Unyielding
by CharmyPI-5 the VIII
Summary: I never thought I would see a world like this, where stone made up the very buildings and you couldn't see stars in the sky. I think I might of found refuge in this cold place, amongst those who share familiar faces of my brothers. But this will not stop me from going home. From going to my family. Sequel to Unbreakable
1. Our biggest nightmare

_**Becomes our Reality **_

_Unyielding_

_Unrelenting_

_The Warriors hunt_

_Who has nothing to loose _

_But everything to gain_

Don wrapped the last layer of bandage over his hand, tucking the broken edge under a loosened layer. He felt a satisfying tug as the wrappings stayed secure in place. He raised his arms up, rolling down the white sleeves of his undershirt. The light leaking from the propped window, the green sheen of his arms obscured by the white cloth. Donnie couldn't ignore the stares he got when a wandering eye fell on his bandages (though his fingers were barely visible under his sleeves). The knowledge that they were staring at the bandages that covered them rather then the thick scars underneath brought him some comfort. Even in this "Murakami Village" he now called home.

Don glanced back for a moment to the front sliding door. His fingers hovering just over the bag he had hidden under the table (just in case one of his family members poked in at that moment to greet him. It wasn't 'like he was going to rob the entire village or anything like that. But knowing his family? They wouldn't like what he was planning.

Good thing they didn't know.

Splinter was probably at the school, he had been kind enough to act as a substitute in Kaede's absence. Donnie didn't' know why his mother and new stepfather, Dorinbo, wanted to travel for a bit. But he wasn't about to question the newlyweds.

Newlyweds.

He still couldn't believe they had gotten _married_.

Donnie made sure the bag was tucked firmly under his arm before hurrying out the door. The village was almost empty due to everyone being out in the rice fields working. Those who weren't in the fields were in the few shops they had in town working. And students were supposed to be in school. Leo and Usagi would be out helping take care of the horses; Raph was hopped up on muscle relaxer that Donnie had mixed for him to help his ailing aching back, so he'd be asleep for the rest of the day. And Mikey should be in-

"Donnie!"

School. Donnie openly cringed and turned his head. The 13 year old form of his only younger brother was waving at him wildly. His body clothed in hi short yukata, the sleeves short and white hakamas all indications of his youthful and energetic nature. Even though they were the closest in age (unless you considered Leo and Usagi but they weren't related by blood), Mikey had already gained a hair width of height on him. Something Donnie was ALWAYS reminded of. To be honest it was a pain in the shell.

But Mikey was _his_ pain in the shell.

The younger slowed as he approached. Light blue eyes bouncing with energy and a grin wide enough that Don of seen into his stomach if he had wanted, "Why aren't you in school?"

"We got out early. Splinter felt bad for keeping us so long yesterday. Wanna play a game? WE haven't played a game in forever! Where are you going? Can I go with you?"

"NO." Don answered before the words really sank in. But he was used to Mikey's disconnected thoughts. It wasn't too far of a leap to go from 'game' to 'rule breaking adventure!'. He almost felt sad to see the smile slide off of Mikey's face. If there was anything in the world that could make a heart ache, it was a sad Mikey face. Though Leo, Usagi, Raph and Mom had no problem telling him he could do the exact same thing-

"Why not? I wanna go!"

"You don't know where I'm even going!"

"No but if you don't want me to go that means its gotta be somewhere you don't' want people to see! Is it a secret hideout!? Like mine?! I showed you mine so you gotta show me yours! Please?! Pleas please please-'  
Ah here came the begging, and the headache that would follow, "Mikey Everyone knows where your hideout it. I'm just leaving for a bit-"

"Not if I tell our brothers!"

The one threat that could actually get one of the youngest brothers to do anything. Call in the army of older brothers. Donnie never considered himself a ruffian, but his older brothers had a habit of being 'henny'. He blamed it on his weak lungs and the problems it caused, but honesty he suspected Leo would of been just of overprotective anyway

What was so wrong with wanting sometime to himself? To walk out the door without someone demanding where he was going? It wasn't' like he had this freedom before, when he and Raph and Mom lived in the city. But it would be nice to walk down the street without eyes following him.

It weird to imagine that, even a few months ago, he didn't know these brothers. Raph had always been his only big brother, his 'Kuma-ni' who tended to be more protective then even their mother Kaede. He could still remember that day when Leo had come to his shop looking for him. Introducing himself as his big brother. The chaos that seemed to follow.

And here they were

"No you won't, we have a deal remember?"

The smile slid off of Mikey's' face again, his arms crossing and his bottom lip all but encasing his chin. Though Donnie knew he had won their argument. Simply from the 'little brother oath' of never tattling on the other. Donnie reached out and put this hand on Mikey's' scalp, rubbing it gently, "I'll be back before everyone gets done I promise. "

"You're no fun."

"OH really? DO I have to remind you who sewed you up those padding cushions for your elbows and knees so that you stop hurting yourself? Like I said I'm only going to be gone for a bit, it's not like I'm going far." With that Donnie turned and started back where he had heading. He could just hear footsteps behind him, without even looking he called, "Stay!"

"DO you have your medicine?"

"Yes mom I have my medicine." Donnie almost rolled his eyes. The footsteps behind him stopped. He could just hear Mikey stomp angrily before walking in the opposite position. Don almost smiled to himself as he hurried forward.

Hopefully Mikey would find the plate of dango that Donnie had left for him and forgive him.

It'd be nice.

Though the walk wasn't far, it was enough that he couldn't clearly see his house from the others in the village. But he didn't mind. He turned back around, where-

There!

Just in the side of the hill, a large gaping hole that he had seen a while ago. He had wanted to go in at the time, but Leo had guided him away from it with a motherly ''don't touch things if you don't know where they've been'.

Spirits, His own mother didn't even follow that rule.

It just showed how motherly Leo really was

Don leaned and looked down into the dark abyss. But he had come prepared. He reached into his brown bag and drew out a small mirror. He looked to the mirror in position to the sun and turned his body ever so slightly. Catching the reflecting light off the glass and sending it into the dark tunnel he wanted to venture. The caves contents illuminating. Even though the light didn't entirely penetrate the darkness, it was enough that he could see no tokages had gone in while he was away. Don carefully placed the mirror to hang by its rope at the mouth of the tunnel. After he was sure it was safer, he slowly began his descent.

He was quite lucky the tunnel was so large, its walls solid and sturdy in place to keep stability.

It was also quite lucky he didn't have to go that far to get to his destination. His feet catching on large jutting walks, his hand moving from the side to roof, though he had to add a small bounce for his fingertips to scrape the roof. He saw where the light began to fade again. But he didn't have to go too deep before he reached the end. His eyes going along the rough rugged walls-

There

A sheen of black against black. His eyes had some difficulty discerning the color from the shadow for a bit. But his eye caught on the pattern he had seen before. Don took out the second mirror he had taken along with him, (he wasn't sure how many he would need). Moving back to where the light penetrated deeper into the tunnel before turning the mirror towards it, angling it a little to the left-

The wall was finally illuminated. Covered in bright light as though it came from the sun itself, the dark markings that had almost been blinded from his vision lit up. Faded, broken in some places, but it still brought a smile to Don's. He reached over into his tube shaped bag again to draw out a small clay pot. A brush following.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Donnie pulled down the edges of his mask long enough to rub the strain that ridden them. It was about the only reward he was going to get for his work. But, after some time, a aching back, ink stained fingers (and probably an ink stained face).

It had been more intricate then he had originally thought. The simple circle was lined with smaller lighter markings; it almost felt like he was writing in another language rather then what ever he was drawing.

But it definitely was worth it.

He had seen markings like these before, when he was at the Sohei Mountain Temple. Though they themselves hadn't created such an intricate design. They had spoken of it, they said it was some sort of window-'

The light that covered the wall flickered ever so lightly; Don drew back in surprise for a moment before the sound of sandals scraping against stone reached his ears, as did his shoulders when a voice came to him

"I thought you'd be here Otouto."

'Busted, oh so busted'. Don pulled his hands to his lap and turned his head slowly to see the familiar form of large older kame making his way down the tunnel. His oldest brother wore black hakamas, his dark blue kimono un-tucked but tied loosely around his waist with a thin white obi. A darker blue cloth hooked around his neck and hanging from the sides. It was something Kaede had made him for his birthday. It made Donnie feel a little better to see him making use of it. The familiar katana's that Donnie never saw him without hung from his waist.

Though a lot of time hadn't passed upon their Grandfather Lorenzo coming to stay in their village, it was easy to say that Leo had matured even further. Now an active samurai amongst those in the village. Donnie could just see the lines of scars on his neck. The worst lay under his blue mask wrapped around Leos' face. Where a sword had barley cut him. Not enough to get him stable after Donnie looked at him. But enough to almost cease all hearing that might meet the side of his head. It wasn't enough to notice if you spoke normally. But if you were talking to him from that side of his body then you could find yourself talking for hours before Leo finally realized you were talking to him. Though a 'disapproving smile' played on his lips showed how little it hindered his life, "Now why would I think I'd find you here? When I specifically said these hills were too dangerous to explore."

"Because I'm a curious cutie?" Don asked lightly he couldn't stop his voice from cracking, a embarrassing side affect from his age and his sore throat. Leos' face lit up as he laughed a bit. Donnie really couldn't blame him. They both knew how much he hated the word 'cutie'. He kept hearing ghosts of it in the village though, whether he was with Arata helping with patients or walking around with a basket of food to bring home, the world 'curious cutie' seemed to haunt him from the lips of mothers.

The humanity

14 year olds were anything BUT cute.

"H-how's your hearing-"

"Don't change the subject. Do you know how late it is Don?"

Oh right, conversation and trying to save his tail from getting skinned. Don looked back opt the light. He wasn't sure why he didn't notice the orange light that had almost covered it. Shit, no wonder Leo had gone looking for him! He would of too if he had known it was this late, "I-I'm sorry Leo. I just wanted to see what was in here. And-and when I saw the markings I knew I could recover them if I had the time. I didn't think you'd let me if I told you-"

"Course I wouldn't of let you go. None of us would. It's too cold in here and we really don't know what's in these caves. If Raph knew you were here he would of drug his bed ridden ass after you. "cue the lecture, and the crossing arms over chest. Dark blue eyes looking down at his with a face that resembled Dorinbo's (even though Dorinbo had only adopted Leo). Don folded his fingers together before tipping his chin down to his chest. Fingers folded over each other his gaze suddenly intent on staring at his ink stained hands, "I'm sorry."

Don heard a tired sigh before footstep drew closer, "What did you find anyway?"

Huh? Don raised his head. Leo had taken a hold of the rough rock over head to swing his body over to look at where the fading light shone. His gaze going down to meet Don's. He was a bit ashamed to admit how long it took him to respond, "I-I found this really cool pattern. I don't know where it came from, but I-I think the Sohei monks might of seen it somewhere."

"Really?" oh Leo, always trying to understand his words. He understood more than Raph though. Don could give him that, "Maybe you can come back later when you have permission and company."

Don couldn't help but sigh. He picked up the almost empty clay jar before twisting the lid on, "IF it were Mikey you wouldn't insist on a bodigado."

"Not true." Were the only words that Leo seemed to pick to defend himself. When Donnie had set the clay jar back into the bag he felt a calloused hand brush over his cheeks, the palm pressing against his forehead. Another tired sigh reached Don's ears. He could just see Leo shake his head tiredly, "You can't let yourself get this cold little Otouto. You'll get sick again."

"But wouldn't that justify your 'mothering-"before Don could finish his joke, he saw Leos forearm in his vision line. Something warm being pressed into his neck, warping around, "Hey-' but the warm cloth covered his mouth, he could just see it over his beak, Donnie wiggled his mouth away till it found freedom. Glaring weakly up at Leo, "you could of warned me-"

"So you could whine about it?" Leo's voice held a tinge of teasing. Smiling lightly, tucking the end of the scarf into the back of Dons white undershirt, "it's a big brothers job to take care of their little siblings."

Don didn't have to use too much brain power to come to the conclusion Leo was thinking of the past 10 years. 10 years of Leo not knowing he had two younger siblings out in the world. Until a old rat had floated down the river, having escaped his imprisonment. Sending the oldest out inot the world to search for the brothers he had lost. Reuniting the family. Leo and Mikey's adopted brother, Usagi, even becoming his. That was even before Leos' adopted father, Dorinbo, had married Don's adopted mother, Kaede. Don often tried to imagine the amount of courage it took for Leo to leave their village to the dark Horyu City to find them. It brought them all together Don couldn't be irritated at that. Don took the top brim of the scarf and pressed his face into it lightly, trying to absorb the warmth of the previous wearer, "I know Aniki."

A arm wrapped around his shoulders, hugging him tightly to a familiar chest. Donnie couldn't help but smile and rest his head against Leo. He could never deny that Leo was a good big brother.

Overprotective

Seconds from lactating

But still a good big brother

"Come along." Don barely had time to open his eyes before feeling the hands on his shoulders all but lift him to his feet, "Raph will skin me if I let you freeze your stubborn tail off. "

Ok, that was one way to look at it. Don looked back to the ornate wall before looking back to where Leo had receded to pick up the mirror, "Be careful! The edges are-

"OW DAM IT!" the sound of shattering mirror reached Dons ear, sending the cave into darkness and the sound of Leo stomping bouncing around. Don all but jumped over, his body bumping against Leos. His hand going up to grip his bicep to keep from losing him in the darkness, "I told you to be careful Aniki!"

"I WAS-"

"Give it!" Don's hand grabbed Leo's fingers. I-sha instincts going into work, his free hand going up Leo's fingers, till they reached something warm and wet, "OH hell Leo-"

"It wasn't my fault! It was your stupid mirror-"

"Well stop moving around! You're making it bleed worse you dumb as-" Don's words suddenly stopped.

The sound of soft grinding filled his eras. Settle at first, but then slowly building up speed and power with it. the sound echoing off close walls. A bright light filling the cave, white and pure. Don's hands immediately going up to his eyes to block the painful sight, he felt arms wrap around his chest, all but being thrown over a hip, his face meeting plastron. A hand to the back of his scalp. Even with the deafening sound, he could just hear Leo shouting. He wasn't sure what he was-

The arms that held him suddenly faded, burning into nonexistence, a panicked shout leaving Dons lips His hand shooting up to try and grab his brother but he was already gone

Taken

"LEO!" the light burned around him still. Running up and down his arms and legs, he could feel the very clothing on his body heat up-

"DON! DONNIE!" That was Leos' voice! Oh thank the Sprits. Don's head swerved from side to side.. That meant Leo wasn't taken too far away! He could find him though his sick traitorous body refused to do his -, "ANIKI-"

"I'LL FIND YOU DONNIE! I SWEAR ON THE FREAKIGN SPIRITS I'LL FIND YOU!" there was such desperation that laced his tone. Cracking and breaking, "I'LL FINDYOU!"

What was he talking about? Leo had been the one taken! Donnie was going to go find HIM not the other way around. Don put his hand to the ground, ready to stand up. Ready to run right for the voice of his lost brother.

His muscles in his leg braced, shooting up to stand. A force behind him all but shoving him back down to his knee. Dons breathing became panicked, drawn, lungs constraining as his advanced mind tried to convey what was going on.

Clarity then hit him. Cold clarity and fact

Leo wasn't the one being taken

He was.

It was almost as though something had hooked around his body, yanking him back. Away from the voice he desperately wanted to get to. From the place he knew was close to home. TO Mikey, to Kuma-ni, to Usagi-

Not to the hell he was sure he was heading to.  
His eyes squeezed shut arms covering his face.. If only to block out the painfully bright light. The burning intensified. Hotter than fire, though no smell of burning flesh reaching his nose. . There had to be an end. An end, no matter what shape or form-

The light vanished. Along with the momentum

Don cried out, his knees cracked so hard against the ground that he found himself rolling. He felt something pop against his side, Cold water striking through his burning clothes and body. Bringing him form agonizing heat to body jerking cold . His hands slapping over his mouth as deep coughs began to wrack over his lungs. Tearing through his throat. Echoing over close walls, bouncing back cruelty of his pain. For hours it felt like he lay there. Without the comfort of his sickening medicine.

Finally his throat released its painful spasms. Don raised the back of his hand to wipe his blurry eyes furiously of their burning streams, lowering down to wipe the taste of blood from his lips. For a split naïve second he thought to reach for his side and the medicine that would relieve his aching body.

His fingers twitched a tired sigh from his lips and a tremor through his heart.

Now he knew where the popping sound had come from.

The sealing of his fate.

Don took the edge of his scarf, pressing it against his face. Though he knew better then to imagine his Aniki had fallen after him. Leo's desperate words after him had proven just that.

He knew he was all alone.

**a/n**

**Charmy**: And so a new journey begins! Honestly, I wasn't going to do a sequel, but I kept going back to this one idea and I thought 'why not?"

**Don**,' I can think of a few reasons why not."

**Charmy** And I will ignore them, for those of you who come from "Unbreakable" I'd like to say welcome back to series! And to the new readers, I hope you enjoy the ride!

**Terms**

**Kuma-ni: **Big Brother bear. Don's name for Raph

**I-sha:** Feudal Japanese Doctor


	2. Lost in Chaos

**Chased Through Abyss  
**

Vision blurred, barely focusing on his water stained hands, the only things keeping him from meeting a cold and hard stone.

_This can't be happening_

_This can't be happening_

The words kept repeating over and over again in his head. Immature childish words that came from a brilliant I-sha mind. A mind that wanted nothing more than to panic and hide.

But he knew better than that.

Don forced in a deep breath, thick foul air, pulling on his sensitive airway and sending a harsh cough to his lips again. His hand shooting up to cover the harsh interruptions.

Plan

He needed a plan.

Find shelter.

That was the number one priority. A secure location. His hands crossed over his chest to rub his arms furiously to instigate warmth in his frozen shivering body. A secure WARM place. He reminded himself lightly.

Number two, find medicine. Some sort of licorice root. Though his aching throat wanted to make that the first priority. Logic won over bodily need

And number three.

Find a weapon.

It was in that moment a colder dread went to his stomach.

Weaponless.

He could just remember waking up that morning, his fingers brushing against his bo staff in a mere thought to bring the staff with him. If only to keep his brothers happy.

Don had pushed that thought away so easily.

Now it was his second biggest regret of the night.

A familiarity went to his mind. Raising his hand to lay on his sleeved wrist. A thick biding over it bringing a surge of excitement through his heart. He drew his sleeve back to reveal the metal weaponry, the arm wrist

His gauntlet.

But it died when he realized that he had failed to refill the darts in it that morning. It still had a knife though. That was something.

Not completely weaponless

Don paused. He would fill in number 3 later. The first two were the first priority. The young I-sha took a deep breath, reaching back over his samue to draw on his hood. He could already feel precious heat storing up. Spirits only knew how vital it was for him to stay warm. Which was hard enough as it is.. He moved to a crouching position, his hand bracing against the ground to heave himself up to a standing position. Cold flat stone pressing into his bandaged hand-

Flat stone?

Don allowed the word to sink in. His hand running over the ground again. He was right. Flat stone. Perfectly cut. Sure the streets of Horyu City had been stone too (The parts of the city that could afford it) but even well made streets were cut up into smaller stone a bit uneven.

This ground was perfect.

Don raised his head slowly. For the first time since he 'collapsed' he raised his head.

The walls rose high above him Taller then another building he had seen. Though they didn't' reflect the sheen of wood he was used to. They were actually dull. Don pushed himself up to a standing position. Reaching his hand out. His fingers brushed against stone, not like the one he stood on. This was much rougher, but still flat. Stacked on top of one another. There was a gap between each stone that seemed to be even more stone.

A city of Stone?

A sweet putrid smell reached his beak. Almost instantly his beak went to his sleeve. Sensing an irritation to throat. His eyes searched around for the source of the horrible smell to spot several metal tubes sitting along the alley. Black bags stacked around it, he didn't recognize the material they were made of. But to be honest, he didn't want to get close enough to find out. His eyes went back up the wall; there were several squares in the wall, shining as though made of glass. Some of them were brightly lit with a strange steady frame. His head titling back further to look at the sky-

Stars?

Where were the stars?

The sky a pitch inky black, dark gray clouds drifting overhead. A light shining against him

Was the entire city lit? How many torches did they have here?!

Don looked back to the end of the alley. There was another though duller light at the end of the alley. Don reached up to tug on the edges of the hood. Before trailing down and fingering the blue cloth that was wrapped around his neck. The edge of it barely rose up past his vision. But it helped to keep the worst of the sticky smell away. He pressed the cloth to his mouth. Drawing in the minute smell that had indicated its previous wearer. Anything to stop the trembling in his legs

Aniki

Give me strength.

Donnie slowly moved closer to the edge. One hand going out to touch the corner. Slowly poking his head out.

He couldn't stop the throat irritating gasp that burst from his lips. Though by instinct, his hand going up to stifle the small coughs. Gratefully not as harsh as his last ones had been.

But no matter how painful his coughs, nothing could take the shock of that moment.

Buildings identical to the ones next to him lined up and down the large street. Rose up on stone steps and up to Grand wooden woods leading into buildings. The strange 'rode' reflecting to the other side of a black solid stone , Tall metal poles running up and down the street.

Street?

What the hell else could they be?

But that wasn't the strangest thing.

The strange metal poles were emitting light, well, some of them were. All hanging from the extra angle. Flickering and giving off little light. Btu it didn't' have the same consistency as fire. His eyes going down. There was another weird can thing. This one didn't' smell so bad, but maybe that was cause they weren't in that alley again. He reached out and brushed his fingers against the lid. It looked detachable-

The metal can suddenly jerked to the side, a form flying from it yowling and yelling loudly.

Don stumbled back, hands flying up to his face in an attempt to protect himself from such a horrible creature. His foot catching air and his body flying through the hair to land on solid ground with a crack. His head bouncing off of solid hard ground, his already darken vision bouncing and turning. The world turning numb around him other than the pain echoing from his head

A sound like screeching filled the air, wheel tearing through water and coming right for him-

Something hooked around his stomach, his vision blurring so fast that he barely had to realize that he was upside down the thing grabbing him, shoulder in his stomach and a bugling arm wrapped around his knees rolling across the ground. The sound of feet (or what should be feet slapping up on the upper flat stone path and turning towards the screeching monstrosity turning away. Dons face all but obstructed by a broad back he couldn't even see around. He couldn't even get a look at the ground

,"-FREAKING IDIOT! ITS CALLED USING YER HEADLIGHTS!"

Headlights!? What the hell are headlights?! How do you turn one on?!-

He felt a hand grab the back of his hood lifting him right off like a how one might pick up a Neko baby or tokage kitten. Finally freeing his vision of horrible Smell-

HOLY SHIT HE WAS HIHG UP!

Donnie had never even been this far high up when he sat on Raph's shoulders! OH Sprits this was high. What the hell was this thing?! Rhinos and Bears were tall but they weren't' THIS tall. Maybe if they stood on each others shoulders, this was just a freaking Giant! A Kyojin-

He could barely see but he could the outline of the large creature. Just barely. He knew he was being lowered- he could just feel his straw sandals scrape against the ground.

Oh sweet merciful solid unnatural ground. Don all but threw his weight to the back, all set in getting as far away from the Kyojin-.

The back of his sandal caught on something, his body all but slamming into the rough wall he had seen earlier, he pushed his feet on the ground to propel him flying back, as far away as possible if another wall had not gotten in his way. His head cracking painfully against the wall obstructing his exit. His hand shooting up to hold his aching head

"Kid calm down! I aint gonna hurt you!" Oh dam the Kyojin was there! Crouching just in front of him. A hand reaching out. Before he could stop his instincts, hjis hand shot out and slapped his. His hand meeting thick cushion and cloth.

What?

Don raised his head slowly, his hand sgoing back ot hold on to the edges of his hood to pull further down his face. His vision had cleared up enough, adjusting to the dark. The creature's clothes and appearance becoming cleared. And his appearance only screamed one thing

DEMON

Even without the Demon Kyojin's height. His appearance would have sent anyone running for the hills and calling for a belle. He wore dark blue hakamas. With some sort of white stripes down the side. He could barely see them bulge tightly on his thick legs (spirits, even his thighs were thicker then Dons head). His chest clothed in the same type of sleeveless red shirt his Kuma-ni wore. His long black hair shaggy and falling around a white separate mask thing, that looked very poorly designed. Even HE could have done a better job. That though might take rocks to the face but not much else.

But that wasn't the scariest part.

The scariest part of him was his body. It was the pale flesh that replaced hair all over his body (he assumed, he couldn't see his whole body). Almost like pig skin. But it had a brown tinge to it,

What the spirits was he!?

"What were you thinking kid!?" the Akuma was talking? he could assume yes with that finger point (five fingers?! What the holy sprits!?) "Everyone knows this street doesn't have the sense to fix their street lamps or headlights! You coulda been HIT-"

Wait?

The Demon Giant was lecturing him? Was he speaking stupid? Donnie had never thought of the existence of a language called "Stupid" but if he had ever heard it, it would be now. And it would be out of the mouth of a shaggy haired Giant Demon

"What the hell are you doing out this late anyway?! It's a school night! You should be at home reading Spiderman comics or playing with hot wheels!"

Spiderman? A full grown spider? Making comedy? What were hotwheels-Ow! Don's hand went up to swipe at the hand that had tapped his head, wanting to verbalize his disdain, "Anyone in there?! Hablar English!?"

Hab-wht? What did that mean? Why didn't this Akuma leave him alone? Oh spirits why didn't he have water-

Just behind his strange white mas, dark blue eyes darkened. Almost in a frown hair. His hand going to his hakamas. Don shell met hard wall again, "DUDE CHILL!" the Akuma snapped at him, waving a hand

Dude?

Why was this Akuma referring to Don as an elephant ass hair-?

Don could just see something in his gloved hand, it wasn't one of the sticks he had strapped to his back (he kind a looked like a hobo) putting it up to his head what was he-

"Yo babe!" Babe? Who was he talking to? Was Donnie supposed to be the 'babe'? No, he seemed to be talking into that device (he almost wished he could see what it was); "I think I have a runaway on my hands, he's giving me trouble." Wait, no, "babe' was the person the Akuma was talking to. A runaway? That had to be him. There was no one else there! But Donnie wasn't causing any trouble. Wait, the Akuma wasn't talking now. His big gloved hand was tapping on his huge knee. He didn't really seem to be paying attention anymore. If anyone could be a master of 'stupid' language, it was this pig skinned creature. Don's eyes glanced to the gap of space that the Akuma giant wasn't obstructing. Don looked over to make sure the Akuma Kyojin was still frozen before leaning forward, ever so slowly towards the opening.

A hand slapped against his forehead and forced him right back in place. Don couldn't stop his own hand from going up and slapping his hand away; if he had any control over his words then he'd definitely have a well thought out one for him

"Are you sure that aint a bad idea?" oh great now he was talking to that weird thing again, or rather he was questioning it "I don't know bringing him back home is a good idea-"

Wait

WHAT?!

No way in hell Don was going anywhere this joker was going. Who the hell knew were demons lived anyway! Underground? IN lava?

Either way Don wasn't going with him.

Instinct sent his foot flying forward slamming against the weird white mask. The demon crying out in shock before falling flat on his back. Don's foot found a second place on his chest, he just met eye contact with the wild haired Akuma just long enough to jab his fingers into his neck. At least the body was the same as it was at home. "SORRY!" before finding sweet freedom on the elevated path again.

A hand suddenly tightened around his ankle, Dons face met hard stone and an aching beak. But the pain was soon overrun by a panic shooting through his body, kicking his foot frantically, "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" he shouted

"I aint going to hurt you freaking brat I'm trying' to help!" Help who!? THAT was a good question. The hand all but drug him back. Don's heart was beating so hard in his chest he could barely breathe. His fingers desperate to find something to hold on to, he could just feel the hand release his ankle long enough to hold on to his shell-

Then the movement stopped

"What the hell-"

Don didn't know what had stopped the Akuma. But he didn't care. Don rolled onto his back, his foot slamming hard against the Akuma's face again. The release of his shell sent him forward on his feet again

By now the demon should have been feeling the full effect of nerve paralysis. It should have numbed alteast half of his body, more than enough to help Donnie get away (and enough to explain the frantic thrashing after him. Don doubled his steps,

"KID WAIT!"

Don knew better, his steps doubling. Carrying him far from the yells of the Akuma. Though the street was barely visible. He didn't even have time to take the world around him.

He just wanted to run

He just wanted to go home.

And away from the giant demon-

Something slapped hard into his face. Vision suddenly darkening over. He couldn't stop the scream of panic from tearing free of his mouth. Hands shooting up to claw at the attacker, fingers digging in and pulling, but it only made him panic more. Tears pouring free-

Wait.

It wasn't an arm.

And it wasn't' holding him. His fingers ran over the obstruction again, it was almost soft. , wet but soft. His fingers ran over a bend in the obstruction, pulling on it, the obstruction freeing his sight.

Paper?

Strange paper, large pieces of paper binded in the middle. It was thin, very light. He closed it over together. He held the weird folded scroll by the binding, fingers running over the edges. The smooth sticky pages pulling free. He peered closely at the page. Pictures? Too pure to be ink, but-

Wait

There appeared to be some sort of pale skinned creature on this page. Almost identical to the creature he had just escaped. Except this one was shirtless. And its chest was much larger-

OH SPIRTS!

IT WAS A SHIRTLESS WOMAN!'

Don had already slammed the binded scroll shut. A horrific red blush shooting across his face. Oh spirits he had seen naked women before, naked woman from HIS world that were in labor or asking him to look at a rash. Not this! At least he had time to prepare-

Wait.

Don looked back down to the binded scroll.

It didn't like it was very expensive. It had to be perishable to be flying around with no one running after it. That meant whatever was written (or put) into this scroll was common knowledge). So the strange creatures, like the giant that had been chasing him, were not strange creatures. At least not here.

They were normal

He was not.

That's why the Giant had freaked out when he touched his shell. He had probably not seen another kame like him before.

Or anything like him

Donnie thought he had been about to suffer a heart attack before, but his heart had almost doubled their speed in the last few seconds.

Alone.

Suddenly every building was no longer an extraordinary feat. The strange metal boxes he could barely see, running up and down the lowered path and the metal cans were no longer curiosities.

They were threats.

Each one of them.

Don turned his head, noticing one of those dark alleys similar to the ones he had seen earlier. It was no longer a dark secret but a refuge. His head shooting from side to side before ducking down into the darkness. Despite the cold that almost immediately swarmed over him, he wrapped his arms tightly around himself. Spotting one of those big metal squares he had pointed out earlier. It might of smelled bad, but it was more than enough to hide his shape from any wandering pig creatures.

He moved over to sit down, without thinking he had already tucked the binded scroll into his pocket. He drew his knees to his chest.

This place was NOT safe. His previous plan all but thrown out of the air. There was no sanctuary, nor warmth, nothing.

He needed to get home now.

His mind wracked back to the design he had seen on the cave wall. There was a chance he could replicated the 'window' he could get home that way.

Except he didn't know what had triggered the window opening in the first place.

But his mind already hit on one hypothesis.

Water

If he could get enough water he might be able to force the window open.

Then he could get home.

Slowly, he rubbed his arms a bit harder. Looking up to scan around, question was, where could he FIND wa-

His body froze, stiffening in an age old reaction to panic. Almost painful to even move, he was stuck in a stare, past white misty breath that came from his lips.

Don had almost missed it. Looking up in an attempt to see the stars again, a comfort in similarity to his home world, his eyes had risen up to those rooftops he had seen.

And there it was

A dark form, packed with thick muscles, he could just see the outline. Either it wasn't wearing any clothes or they were very tight against his skin. Something just fluttering past its head. White eyes looking out.

Right at him

He had been seen.

Before the thought could even going through his mind, Don was back on his feet, charging down opposite end of the alley. His footsteps echoing heavily off of the close walls.

This street was much better lit then the last one. The weird angled posts giving off bright steady light up and down the elevated sidewalk. He turned to the left, shooting down the path.

He didn't know where he was going

But he wasn't staying there.

Another cross roads. Don glanced to side to side (to ensure that annoying metal headlight wasn't going to hit him again) before jumping down on the lowered path. Jumping up to the opposite side he glanced a moment to turn.

Just on the roof, he could still see the form, running just on the edge. A show of perfect balance. He could just see the outline of the creature's massive arms swinging with little to no effort.

Oh spirits

The freaking thing worked out and jogged for fun

Don turned forward again. He could already see the scenario running through his head. The creature was obviously fast4er, trained for it even. Don had secretly been hoping changing streets would alteast slow him down

No such luck

This creature was going to catch up with him.

He was going to get caught

He was going to be a prisoner again

The word sent aches through his arms, a growl that would have made Raph proud through his throat.

No

Not again

He would rather take his own life-

Don turned sideways, his feet sliding across the ground, staring right ahead.

Another pair of white eyes

Glaring at him from the dark of the opposite roof.

Another one

Don bit back a well-chosen cuss. A summary of his luck. His body twisted, left had done him no good. In fact, it gave him a second creature to chase him. His arms pumped hard, he could see another crossroad up ahead. With a pump of his back leg he easily covered the gap. Sparing another glance behind him

3

There were THREE things chasing him now. One had joined the newest chaser.

And they were getting closer.

2 buildings away.

He wanted to scream his frustrations. But he feared the aches coming from his throat, the coughs that would follow and send him to his knees

Donnie couldn't afford that.

His hand took a hold of a building edge, using the momentum to swing himself around hard. Before his feet slammed against the ground and bringing him to a complete stop.

One of those angled lights lay up ahead, shining down brighter, over the crowd standing by one of those larger metal squares filled with window

More of those demons.

All standing, talking lightly, (properly clothed) though more heavily dressed then him. That was something he could envy in that moment. They seemed waiting to get on-

Wait

Could you ride one of those-?

The sound of bare feet against stone hit his ears. Without even having to look he already knew what was behind him, a street away, but there.

The creature.

Don made a decision

He ran forward, towards the crowd. He could just hear the sound of squealing. It looked like something was folding away from the metal Headlights, the crowd surging towards it-

All that was obscured by pounding in his ears. Both by his heart and the feet behind him. A muffled shout. His mind only repeating one thing,

Get to the box.

He could just feel something brush against his hood. Don's hands shot up, grabbing the edges of his hood and yanking it down to almost obscure his vision. Acid building in the back of his throat, the shout just inches behind him-

Don all but threw himself into the crowd, his feet finding enough ground to slide into the hoard, his feet moving with theirs, climbing up strange plastic steps. His vision all but swimming. A pig skinned fat creature giving him a nod. His eyes went to the back of the metal bus, all but pushing his way. His sweaty hands all but sticking to their clothing, even with the bandages still wrapped over his hands. Don put his hand up to keep from slamming into the back window. Turning to the crowd around him. All still dwarfing his six (but not even comparative to that giant he had seen earlier) and, blessedly, not paying any attention to him.

Don allowed the panic breathing to go through him. Slowing down, his sleeve going up to wipe his burning eyes.

His theory had been right

The creature would not go near the pig skinned creatures. As long as Donnie didn't show his face, the crowd wouldn't panic.

It almost made him cry in relief.

Until the metal box jerked under his feet and almost sending him up through the roof. Moving forward

Oh shit

Why didn't he realize this sooner?! He could have gotten into a metal Headlight sooner and just rode it away! Had he the time to figure it out-

Something passed by his vision. Don's head jerked up, just outside the window he saw one of the creatures run out into the middle of the lowered street, the light of the metal Headlight catching his green skin ever so lightly, red trailing behind him and eyes dead on him. Was that a shell-?

Don broke eye contact. The tears he had been so careful to keep at bay ran free in a few moments of horror. His arms wrapping around himself, face buried into his scarf. Hoping not to draw attention to himself.

But he was scared.

As much as he wanted to deny it, he was scared. Horrified. He wanted to lie down and freaking cry like a child. Until his brothers found him, and held him close.

They would protect him from those strange horrible creatures.

Because he sure as hell knew he couldn't do that himself.

Don forced his aching airway to take in several slow breaths even as his body craved more. Sobs fighting for reign but remained locked in his chest.

His hell was not over

He wasn't sure when this metal Headlight would stop again, but he highly doubted he could hide on there forever. And the Chasers knew that too.

He would be on the run again.

he could feel the cold of the floor just through his left foot, bringing about the face that, on top of Dons aching body and traitorous airway, he had also lost his sandal .It took Don a bit to realize someone was looking at him. From over his scarf, he glanced up to see a child his size staring at him, pale hand clutching the hand of the man next to her.

Her?

Yeah it looked like a her. Her blonde hair thick with curls, long eyelashes. She was obviously much younger than him. (So the fact they were so close in height almost made him irritated) but she didn't' look aggressive, almost curious. Don ducked his head ever so lightly though, hoping to break her attention

NO such luck. The girl put her hand into her sleeved cloak pocket, drawing out a bright orange bag, some sort of Neko with shaded goggles on the cover and held it out to him. Don almost wanted to ask what she wanted, but she shook the bag lightly. Don slowly raised it hand and closed his fingers over the bag. THE little girl let go with a small giggle and smile putting her hand down before facing the front.

What was that? Don looked down on the strange bag, a gift? That was kind. Don would have thanked her if he could without crying. He put the bag in his pocket before looking out to the back window. Grateful to no longer see those Chasers running after the bus.

But that didn't mean they weren't out there. And the sooner Donnie found water the better.

What if he didn't need water though?

The thought pulled in the back of his mind. A curiosity. How was the window activated before? What had he and Leo been doing?

Was it the ink?

The mirror he had used to fill the room with light?

What about Leo's shouting when he had grabbed the mirror-

Don's body all but froze.

THE MIRROR

It had cut Leos' hand.

He had been bleeding

Not even a second before the window had lit up.

SHIT! It took all his willpower to keep from banging it against the window, he was no freaking genius! He was a dumbass! The biggest dumbass to ever crawl over the ground! SPIRITS why didn't he see that sooner!?

He didn't need water

He needed BLOOD

And he had plenty of that.

Don's hand shot into his bag at his side, YES ink! He still had an unbroken clay pot of ink. And a brush! Oh Spirits. This was a mercy he so needed. But how was he supposed to get the metal Headlight to stop-

Another jerk went under his feet. The crowd shuffling around, the familiar screeching that had indicated when that folding door had opened.

He felt lucky indeed.

Don moved back to the crowd, trying to squish his way back in between those giants around him. Moving forward, he just caught a glimpse of the Headlight Tamer who had nodded to him earlier, whispering out, with a nod of his head, "Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita." Before jumping down the steps. Don knew that safety remained with the crowd, but even then he took a step away. From the sanctuary he had found. The little girl he had seen looked over at him one more time. Her gloved hand going up to wave meekly.

Donnie smiled, he couldn't help it. He raised his hand to return to affection before turning and running down the dark alley.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Spirits it was hard to find a street that wasn't lit. He didn't know how long he had been looking, but it was long enough for the clothes on his body to harden from the water and send a rank to his nose.

Thankfully those chasers hadn't returned yet.

That was something to be grateful for.

Don poked his head down the latest alley he had found. There. The end wasn't lit up like the others. It was dark, almost like an abyss, but the shading indicated it was open ended and lead to a street much like the one he had ran into earlier. Something he might normally steer clear of.

Except his situation wasn't normal.

And he was running out of time before those chasers found him again.

He ran down to the end of the alley, poking his head out again. Yes! Almost completely dark, it would be harder to spot him there. But there was a threat of a another metal Headlight hitting him like it had earlier before that masked giant has saved him

Huh

He almost felt bad for paralyzing half his body.

And this was a risk he had to make. If he wanted to get home.

Don jumped down to the lower street, reopening his bag, his fingers brushing against warm metal, and a friendly reminder.

His extra mirror!

Don dug it out, a solution to his other problem of having to draw in the dark. He licked his thumb to run over the edges of the mirror, warmth going through his stomach that he had learned to channel years ago, a whisper leaving his lips.

"Watashi no michi o terasu."

The surface of the mirror shivered ever so lightly, like a skip of stone over water. A dull light began to shine from the center, spreading gout till he had to turn his head away turning the mirror around to catch a glimpse of those large thick tires he had seen earlier. Don went over to brace the small mirror against it, the light shining onto the street. A wide circle.

Without hesitating, Don drew out his ink jar, paint brush in one hand, biting into the hard metal to twist the lid off, spitting to to the street before kneeling down. Memory playing key, blending design over the stone. A reflection of the design in the cave playing over the stone ground. Small, careful to grab each detail greedily from his memory

His chance

His last chance.

The sound of crunching glass filled the air. His heart jumping to his throat to escape the terror that shot through his stomach

They were here

They had found him.

Donnie all but scampered to the middle of the circle. He could just hear their bare feet. Oh spirits. He bit hard into his thumb, hard enough to draw bitter blood to his lips and into his mouth, he spat out to the side, intelligence winning over panic of fast approaching feet. Of shouts he couldn't discern, words leaving his mouth, through trembling lips. His palms pressing together, feeling the blood spread over to his other palm. 4 eyes, oh spirits they were multiplying

This was his last hope

"Hōmu watashi o eru, Ohaio-shū watashi wa negatte nyūshu shite kudasai. Watashi no michi o terashi, watashi wa watashinokazoku o shutoku shite mimashou. Watashi wa, anata ni kono 1 kōi o o kiki kudasai, "the last leaving his lips in a desperate plea. a prayer. "Watashi wa ie o tebanasu"

A glow began to form at his feet. Shining from the drawings in stone. A warm wind began to flutter his clothing. Pulling on his clothes like the hands of playful children. He could have cried in relief

It was working

He was going home

His eyes opened, if only to laugh at his Chasers. TO see the anger on their faces as they failed to do the Giants doing. The stupid-

But the word froze in his mouth

The light of his 'window' barely caught their skin, their body. But enough to aluminate green skin. Pale brown plastrons and padded knees. Arms drawn up to protect masked eyes

Masked

Turtle bodies

Kame bodies

Masked eyes.

Trailing just behind their heads.

Red

Orange

Blue.

Raph, Mikey, Leo-

The last one caught his vision, the Kame standing near the back almost obscured by his vision, but he could just see purple trailing behind his head.

Purple

Donatello

Himself

Air choked in his throat, a loud cough escaped his lips as he momentarily choked on the awful thick air. Panic, confusion pumping through his blood as his eyes ran down the line again.

Kame

Turtles

Brothers

HIS brothers

Himself

HE was standing over there-

A spasm of pain shot through his leg, like a bolt of fire, his knee cracked against hard stone, pain shooting down his spine, through his arms. The warm comforting air that surrounded him intensifying, turning hot, as though someone had just stuffed him into a komodo-

"GET HIM OUT OF THER!"

Don couldn't tell which of them had said it, but he heard something crack against stone, His head refused to look up. TO see who was trying to save him-

But the crack grew louder, he could just barley feel it under his sandalless foot.

Then he was standing on nothing

His body fell through air, but before he could think of screaming he met cold water, dragging him with a thick current, digging into his very body. The sour horrible water forcing their way into struggling lungs. The horrible truth since his childhood reaching his ears

He couldn't swim

And he couldn't see.

Legs kicked out trying to find a freedom from the current, in the few lessons Leo had given him on swimming, proving futile

He was going to drown

He was going to die-

An arm hooked over his chest, his shell meeting chest in a tight hug. Don forced his eyes open through murky water to see a green arm hooked around him. His head turning and jerking but he could just see a blue mask above his head

Leo?

Other Leo had grabbed-

But his mind interrupted, the body holding onto his jerked heavily, but the arm tightened around him. He could just feel Other Leo's legs kicking, more methodical then his squirming, but they didn't seem to be doing too well either. Maybe if they moved with the current-

It seemed like Other Leo was thinking the same thing, his body suddenly changing direction. Going with the current. Donnie seriously hoped this doppelganger knew where he was going, or could see because he sure as hell couldn't-

Hell Donnie didn't even know which way they were going-

The body holding his jerked heavily. The arm around his chest lessening. Without a second thought, Don twisted around and wrapped his arm around The Other Leo's upper torso, his blurry vision just seeing a dark red spot on his scalp

What had hit him?! Was there debris floating down here?! Oh spirits-

His vision caught sight of something; it seemed to be standing still, dangling in the water. One arm tight around the other Leos' chest, his other shot out and grabbed the pipe-

It held.

Only the fact of its true form almost sent his oxygen deprived mind into over panic

A ladder

Oh sweet spirits a ladder.

Don could barely keep his arm around the copycat's chest, his shoulder twisting painfully in trying to hold him against the powerful current. Donnie slammed his feet into place, dragging himself up, finding footholds. His hand finding a grip in the Copycats belt-

Belt?

The copycats refused to wear pants but said yes to leather belts? Where was the logic in that-?

Don's head broke surface, his other arm all but heaving the body after him. His chest meeting cold stone, Leos' copycat form next to him.

A heave filled his gut; Don barely had time to turn to the water before he began to vomit. Water pushing out of his mouth and lungs and splashing into the water below that had just tried to drag him into the afterlife

He didn't mind so much getting revenge.

Glorious warm rank oxygen filed Dons lungs, his shell meeting hard stone. Coughing filling the air, hands to his eyes to clean them of the wretched water

Then he just lay there

Cold

Bruised

Aching

But alive

Don wanted to laugh, but his stomach and lungs fought against that logic. His vision finally clearing enough to see stone ceilings, his vision running down the walls to realize how much it fell around, almost like a cave

This was under their stone city?

A stone river?

His clearing eyes went over to the body of his brother. NO., his brother's copy. He was obviously still breathing. Eyes closed and lulled breath indicating that he was indeed knocked out. If nothing, that large gash in his head proved that. IT couldn't have been easy to swim with those swords-

Don paused in mid, barely coherent, thought.

Swords?

Yeah, there they were. Crossed over his back. It was a weird place to put them. But they were there. They looked like katanas. His eyes going back to his face.

He looked just like his Aniki

That thought alone almost made his eyes burn again.

Don moved his leg when pain shot down his knee, bringing his hands to grip it tightly with an angry hiss and cough. Shit, he must have busted it when he had fallen making that window

The window

Why didn't it work?

Why wasn't he home right now? Running to his house, to be embraced by a worried family?

The burning was back.

Why weren't his brothers looking at him right now? Why weren't they hugging him and lecturing him on his stupidity? Why wasn't his Kuma-ni threatening to belt him while Leo just held him? OH sprits he wouldn't of scared if he really did get belted; he just wanted to be there. Anywhere but this cold dark world. He couldn't stop the sniff from escaping his lips, his hands to his face. Eyes begging to let loose the begging in his heart

Scratching filled the air.

Don's head shot up. Despite his bodies protest he went to his knees, ignoring the stinging on his feet (he didn't want to think how badly his 'Art' attempt had burned them.). IT was then he noticed that he was lying on a path, much like the sidewalk he had been exploring earlier. Though this one ended behind him, the other end turned and disappeared around a corner

That's where the noise was coming from

Don bit his lip, fighting the panic welling in his gut, only anger finding a place, "I can hear you!" he shouted, "You're not scaring me!"

The large footsteps stopped their scratching. Don looked back to the pathway. He wasn't sure where the light was coming from, but it barely illuminated a form. Shaped like the pig skinned creatures.

He was just around the corner.

And Donnie was too ticked to think rationally.

Then the anger began to fade, when the shadow didn't fade. He hated being angry, it always made him feel horrible for hours.

This creature had done nothing to him

And neither had the giant

"I'm sorry." Don moved forward on his knees, sitting just to the other side of the Other Leo. Watching the shadow, "I didn't mean to yell. I-I'm just a little lost." a little was an understatement. Don looked back to the stone walls around him. There had to be a reason this pig skinned creature was living under the stone city. Maybe he was poor? Maybe he was scavenging? The mere thought only added to his guilt, "I" don't have anything to give you." Don admitted sadly his hands going to his sides, brushing his pocket, a crinkling sound filled the air

Wait

The bag with the spotted Neko!

Don dug it out, though wet, the bag was unbroken. Whatever was inside had to be good, he looked up to the corner again before tossing the bag lightly. It finding a place in the center of the path.

There was a hesitation. Don saw the shadow of the creature bend down and a pale hand reach out, wrapped in brown bandages, long fingernails holding onto the bag and dragging it back toward him. The sound of footsteps returned, but this time began to fade, the shadow lowering to the path until it fell from sight.

Don turned back to the Leo clone. Even though all his natural instincts told him to run and leave him behind, he had a much more innate instinct that won out

The need to help others.'

His hands to the ground, thumb stinging from the bite of his teeth, his drug himself over to his fallen form. Reaching to his arms and pulling free a strip of bandage

Even if he was just a ghost of his real big brother.

**a/n**

Charmy, "Yeah its true, a dude is actually a word for elephant butt hair. Weird right?"

Raph," You think that's weird/ YOU clearly don't own a mirror."

Charmy, "Ok dude."

**Kyojin**: Giant

**Akuma**: Demon

**Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita**: Thank you very much

**Watashi no michi o terasu**: Light my way

"**Hōmu watashi o eru, Ohaio-shū watashi wa negatte nyūshu shite kudasai. Watashi no michi o terashi, watashi wa watashinokazoku o shutoku shite mimashou. Watashi wa, anata ni kono 1 kōi o o kiki kudasai. Watashi wa ie o tebanasu**": Get me home, oh please get me hope. Light my way, let me get to my family. I ask you this one favor, please. Let me go home


	3. Same Faces

**_A/n_**

I had a bit of difficulty with this chapter, in all honesty. It was really short and I kept thinking i needed to change it. But Luckily I have GOTC to knock sense intome

* * *

**Different Plane**

* * *

"_What's the point of having rotating weeks' if you keep bullying us to pick your movie-"_

"_Cause my movie choices are BETTER-"_

"_Yeah if you're pickin' movies for 6__th__ graders! Dam it, it's my turn and I'm pickin' Gangster Squad!"_

"_It's the OLYMPICS this week WE'RE watching Cool Running's!"_

"_IT AINT EVEN THE WINTER OLYMPICS YOU FREAKING IDI-"_

_Leo had chosen that moment to bounce his head off of the back of the couch. Fighting the groan biting at his throat to roll his head to his most peaceful brother, "I kinda feel bad for talking you out of reading your book."_

"_You should" though the smile on Don's face said otherwise, "I think reading about surgical methods of Civil War Army surgeons would have been less violent than this." his arms crossing and head lowering down, his eyes looking over to the Don "You can close your eyes if you're too tired."_

"_Nah I think I'll be able to stay awake this time, especially with those 'Leaping screamers'." light brown eyes looked over to him with a smile, "Thanks for asking."_

"_No prob." he smiled gently. Though he found himself hating the weight that shifted on his chest. He moved his head back around to look at the ongoing argument_

_He was leader for a reason. And one of those reasons was obvious, he was able to bite the inside of his cheek till it bled. It was his infinite patience. It was his ability to put others before himself. To never admit his weakness._

_That he missed being a big brother._

_He missed when his brothers depended on him. _

_He missed Mikey coming to him when Raph was 3 seconds from head slapping him, when Raph needed someone to help him blow off steam in the dojo. Or when Don fell asleep during a movie and needed someone to 'zombie walk' him to bed._

_It made him feel needed._

_Also, it was funny to wake Don up at the end of a movie, to watch his light brown eyes shoot open in surprise and confusion. _

_The sound of ringing filled the stone walls, he felt Don's hand slap his shoulder before flipping over the back of the couch with a shout ' got it!' though the others were shouting too loud to listen…._

_They were always shouting_

_Always….._

_he just wanted some quiet_

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Ow

Tfhat was about the one word that could describe how he felt. It covered how his head felt, how his lungs felt and about everything else. His mind struggled to regain consciousness he so desperately wanted, though he was rewarded with another horiible throb going through his head. All seeming to come from a central point he had yet to pinpoint

What the shell had happened?

Hadn't he just been in the Lair? He had traded a evening of spiritual training and strengthening to a evening of watching westerns Raphs pick of the week, (Leo had yet to figure out why he was so infatuated with cowboy , horror, and gangster movies). What was it again? Hadn't Raph been overruled by Mikey to watch Coool Runnings?

Anway, the phone had gone off. Donnie had given up his spot next to Leo to go answer it (while Raph and Mikey were still arguing). Leo could vaguely remember hearing Donnie greet Casey in his usual "kindness to the universe' routine that Leo so admired.

The arguing between Mikey and Raph had ceased then with Donnie calling for Raph to get the phone. Leaving Mikey to shove his movie choice into the DVD player while Raph stormed to Dons' call.

Honestly Leo didn't really pay attention to any of the conversations. He had settled into the worn couch, shaped to perfectly fit his shell and cocoon him in warmth. He didn't even remember when Donnnie had restettled. Honestly it was all pretty routine. Routine evening, Donnie sitting right next to him, Mikey bullying to get his mobile choice, Raph arguing with Casey on the phone-

Then a sentence reached his ears

Something that caught his attention

"What do you mean 'anotha' one? Dam it Casey I keep telling ya that Russian beer you like does things-"

At that point, the muffled sound that had been Casey's' voice had exploded to ungodly levels. Loud enough for an equally loud scream to burst from his immediate brothers lips in retort. All but destroying the clam loving atmosphere that had filled the lair had been broken and shattered in the air.

Leo had chosen that moment to intervene, flipping over the back of the couch to snatch the phone out of Raph's hand (luckily, Don had chosen that moment to chokehold Raph) in time to greet April (who had enough sense to take the phone from Casey. Leo had chosen that moment to intervene. Jumping to snatch the phone out of his hands (Raphael getting chokehold by Donnie and Mikey). Maybe it was because of their friendship, but he was able to calm down the Masked Vigilante enough to hand the phone off his wife (and much more reasonable) April. Then the truth had come out

Casey had seen another turtle

And April believed him.

And that was all the proof he needed.

The movie had been put away, lights turned off, the four stealing into the night. A barely formulated plan of divide. No conversation other than the order for the split, Donnie and Mikey would take the lower half of the area Casey claimed to see the turtle. The two oldest would take the northern.

And the night was theirs.

When the thoughts came back. Accusations, had it been Bishop? When he had Donnie in his clutches? Or Shredder? In an attempt to play with their minds?  
It didn't matter

He had to be captured.

That was the silent agreement amongst them.

The division came up again, another half. Leo now alone, his feet barely whispering across the stone roofs, using the stone ledges to vault his finely tuned warrior body. Eyes skimming over barren street. A part of his mind dared to think that maybe Casey had seen wrong.

Then the call had come.

He had seen the turtle.

Leo had gotten to the chase. Getting coordinate from the Shell-Cell. His stride falling alongside his brothers. Before his eyes even turned to the target.

Then he saw him.

Dressed in clothes, though he couldn't see the colors in the dim light. A shell sticking out of the back of his shirt in alarming obviousness

He had seen them to.

And he didn't like it.

The Turtle had almost immediately set off running. Leo could easily see that the other turtle was outmatched. Their speed would have overcome his easily. Had the Turtle not jumped onto the nearest metro bus. Sending a heart attack right through him. Surely someone would see the shell sticking out behind his clothes-

But there was no reaction

The bus never panicked.

Raph had landed on the street below. If only to ensure the kid was still on the bus.

Ten the hunt had really begun. The team had regrouped. Don had already been in his phone, hacking his way into the bus trafficking and route (Raph and Leo didn't think it wise to be chasing the bus through well-lit parts of the city and risking getting seen).

Though the other turtle really didn't seem to mind.

It had taken a few hours, but eventually they had seen him again. Hidden in one of the darker streets.

Which was perfect, cause then they could get on the street.

Leo didn't know what he had been drawing on the ground. But nothing prepared him for what happened next.

The bright light that had exploded. Warm wind slamming against him, Air shimmering

A blue scarf

purple mask

light brown eyes

a cry of pain.

panic

the ground cracking

the other turtle disappearing

Water dragging him under

Without thinking, he remembered diving in, his brothers yelling after him.

Then nothing.

Then this

Then a headache, SHELL his head hurt.

His heavy eyelids refused to do his bidding. fluttering like the broken wings of a bird. something cold pressed against the throbbing central point. But it sent a soft relief through him. Enough to lessen his pain.

Slowly he allowed a soft light to enter his eyes. Sewer lights he had known his entire life. obstructed by a form crouched by him. No, cross-legged. a thin strip held between hands. reaching down to his head. Probably not noticing he was awake. That was alright. Atleast now he had the advantage

The strip was pressed right where his throbbed came from. It took a lot of energy to not hiss his disdain.

The colors began to come back. Shapes taken place. A color seemed to radiate from the turtles face, just above strange cloth wrapped around his neck.

He knew that color

He knew that turtle

"Donnie?"

the name left his lips before he could focus. The smaller form jerking away in surprise. Light brown eyes meeting his. The Form slid back across the ground away from him, turning and foot under his body.

Panic shot through Leo, "WAIT!" Before he could stop himself his hand had shot out to wrap around his ankle. The Body jerked against his hand as the grip sent the turtle slamming to the ground, a cry of pain.

The sound sent clarity through his mind. The dark around him coming clear stone of the sewer he knew so well. A dull light barely clearing out the darkness giving shape to the form he had grabbed. But he didn't' need to see to know he had taken hold of a sock clothed ankle, soaking wet with sewer water. His palm pressing against the torn piece of a straw sandal. He could just see the bottoms of the turtles feet were red, socks torn indicating injury. Dark pants covering his legs.

Wet

Freezing

Shivering

Enough to finally snap him out of the last of his fog. Especially when a strangled sound reached his ears, something between a cough and a sob. Despite his father's voice in his ear, he released the soaked ankle, moving to a squatting positing to crawl around his side he could see white long sleeves sticking out under a strange corner buttoned purple shirt, a white hood pulled up over a scalp. a thick blue scarf wrapped his face while a forearm curve d over his face, "Wait wait," he repeated. Adopting a much softer tone. One he would have never used with a vicious Bishop Clone or Shredder monster. And it took another look to the turtle to realize why

This turtle was nowhere near his size

He was small; Leo could see that even under his clothes. He was thin lacked obvious muscles that he had.

This wasn't the body of a hardened warrior or a teenager

This was a child. A child with bleeding feet, soaking wet. . Shaking as though he expected the wrath of hell to fall on him and tear him apart.

This child expected pain from him.

Leo felt a small knot begging to form in his throat, swallowing he reached out to put his hand over the child's shaking bicep. The form curled up even tighter, if only to escape his touch. The strange cough 'sob reached his ears again. Shaking so bad he wasn't sure how he was still holding it up.

He couldn't' forget it was his own fault the kid had gotten so scared. He had been trying to help his head injury.

Leo had to help him

He drew his hand away, rubbing his open palm on his already dry thigh to warm up his palm before reaching out and resting it back on the forearm. Allowing his palm to touch the shaking arm, shell this kid was freezing, before relaxing his fingers over it. To show he wasn't going to hold him against his will, "I'm not going to hurt you." his voice as gentle as it had been before. Finding no will to scare him worse than he had, "I promise I'm not going to hurt you."

Slowly, but to Leo's relief, the arm began to lower. Leo could see an olive green face peering out from the dark of his hood and scarf the shadow of a dark bruise running down the side of his face. Light brown eyes peering at him from under a purple mask with mistrust, confusion.

But he had still lowered his arm

And Leo still recognized those eyes. His heart began to quicken in his chest. But Leo took a deep breath. Forcing the 'clone theory to fade from his mind', instead he allowed a gentle smile to grow on his face, "I'm sorry I tripped you, it was an accident." Leo took his arm off of the boy's arm (he assumed he was a boy, "Are you hurt? Can I help you?"

The boys hand went to his throat as though contemplating. But Leo's eyes went back down to where he had seen those blood feet, and busted knee. He slowly reached forward and took him by the shoulders. the child stiffening immediately as though ready to run, "sssh." he shushed lightly, helping him off the cold floor, helping him lean against the wall. Light brown eyes looking at him frantically. "I-I don't have a lot of medical stuff on Me." he admitted sheepishly, "But my brother does. He can help. I can call him for you if you like. Our home is pretty warm," Leo took out his shell cell slowly. He could just see the child's eyes go to his shellcell. Don was listed under 2 taps of 2. A small beep indicating act filled the air. Enough to make the child's gaze shoot up to his face in surprise. It took a lot for him to not smile.

But it was enough to prove his theory.

The tone went through barley giving him time to turn on Speaker phone and lower the phone till it rested on his palm. The anxious voice of his second youngest brother on the other side"Leo! Are you ok!? Are you hurt!?"

"I'm alright Donatello." He kept his voice level. Noting how the kid jumped back at his older counterpart's voice, "I have the turtle with me. He needs some help."

"The turtle? The one we were chasing? He didn't run away?"

"Yeah, he saved my life and took care of me. He looks just like you, minus the height." he allowed himself to smile when the child frowned lightly. Leo almost had a feeling this was something he was teased on a lot.

"Do you think he's a clone?"

"I think he's in the wrong world, I think he's lost. I also don't' think he's going to hurt anyone as long as we don't hurt him. Which we don't plan to."

"You sound weird, are you talking on speakerphone?"

"I wanted him to be able to hear the conversation. I want him to know he's not in any danger. But like I said, he's hurt, can you please bring she Sewer slider by or something? So he doesn't have to walk?"

"That won't scare him?"

"He's a pretty brave kid. I think he'll be ok." Without another note, he hung up the phone. He freaking hated phones.

Leo kept his head down as he tucked his phone back into his belt. He could just see the kids eyes go from Leo to the device he had pocketed. But when Leo raised his head the younger turtle turned his head away, as though acting like he didn't care. His arms going up to wrap around himself, knees drawn in. Leo couldn't help but notice the chill that still ran over his small body.

"The Sewer Slider is a type of mechanical sled we use to ride through the sewers. We would go by land but we live down here anyway. The only reason we went to the surface to begin with was to find you. WE thought you were a threat or you might blow our existence. Which I don't' think you would of done on purpose. And I think you can assume by now that we aren't normal here. And I think you can know my brothers names and mine. Because they're your brother's name too. Am I right Donatello?"

As he expected, the young Donatello's face ducked back behind his scarf again, before the white hood moved up and down in nod.

"I just want you to understand, this isn't a bad world, but we still aren't' the norm here. And if someone had gotten a hold of you, you might have been taken somewhere bad. They wouldn't be very understanding or kind. They would have hurt you. That's why I and my brothers and father live in the sewer. Do you understand?"

Young Donatello's eyes had stayed on his the whole time. Intelligence eyes that could probably understand a lot more difficult sentences then how he was talking. Even so, his head nodded lightly.

Leo smiled, trying to offer a reward for his response. But he couldn't ignore young Donatello's shivering. Those wet cold clothes couldn't be good for anything. Leo and his brothers had an advantage that they were able to dry off and warm up quicker than most others.

It was obviously THIS Donatello didn't have that advantage

"Are you cold?"

The child nodded, Leo could just hear a small wheezing sound. But it could have easily been from the sewer so he could ignore it. But Leo couldn't ignore his suffering. His large hand going up to rest on the younger turtle's small knees. The muscles under his hand only jerking lightly but otherwise there was no resistance, "My brothers might take a while to get here. I can keep you warm if you want."

Young Donatello's' form curled, up, shell pressing harder in the stone wall behind him as his eyes looked Leo up and down with accusation. Knees pulling up tighter to his chest out and out from under Leo's hand. Face disappearing behind them.

He was a bit more disappointed then Leo would like to admit. He rocked back onto his knees, deciding to accept his promise. Leo was about to look down the tunnel to see if only to break the awkward moment when his eyes were caught in Young Donatello's again. The white hooded turtle nodding ever so slightly

Leo couldn't help but smile. A bit harder then he would have expected. Leo moved up to his knees and moved around the kid. Keeping his movements slow as the Alternate Don's eyes had stayed on him the whole time. Searching for an excuse to run.

And Leo wasn't about to give him one.

He settled himself right next to the younger turtle. Slowly drawing his arm out in invitation. Younger Don scooted towards him, closer to his side. His arm wrapped around Donatello's small shoulders and tightened his grip ever so lightly. If only to show that his 'charge' could get out of his grip if he needed to

Then it happened

The younger Don leaned into his hold. Head resting on his chest, He felt the small body relax as though shying. The small shivering began to slow. Though small shivers took their place

Withheld sobs

Leo bit hard into his lip, closing his eyes. Searching for words of comfort

What could he say?

"I wish I could explain how you got here, I would if I could. I don't even know how you got here. And we don't have a lot in our home. And I know you saved me because I look like your own Leonardo. So I will tell you this. I promise I'll keep you safe, me and my brothers all. I promise to not hurt you. I'll keep you safe until we can get you home," he found his hand sliding up the back of the child's shell, moving up to rest on the top of his hooded scalp, " I swear on my honor, little one."

The form in his arms shivered, he felt a beak press into his side. Fingers going to the forearm wrapped around him to grip it lightly. A small sigh going through him

Leo almost thought the child was trying to thank him

He could accept that.

A shiver went through the form. Suddenly jerking out of his arm and flying forward and slam onto his knees out and of his arms doubling over as a hacking sound escaped his lips, bandaged hands pressed over his lips as the child's body shuddered in pain, "Hey!" Leo shouted, moving forward, grabbing him by the shoulders and yanking him back. The smell of copper hitting him. Red stains going across bandaged fingers, eyes squeezed shut

Blood.

Leo all but dragged him into his arms, using his bicep to support his light body while his other hand flew up to his forehead. Warmth all but burning his skin "Don!' he shook the boy lightly. But despite his efforts, the younger version of his brother's eyes swiveled to the back of his head, hands falling to his chest and eyes shut.

"_**DON!"**_

_**a/n**_

* * *

**_quick thought, how cool would it be to see a unbreakable fanfic comic? Serioulsy, I think its every fanfiction writers dream. It'l probably never happen but still it would be awsome!  
_**


	4. The Journey Ahead

**The Brothers Dread**

* * *

Anger

Anguish

The emotion shot through Leo like adrenaline from the moment the symbol on the cave wall lit up. Instincts that had been worn into him from the battlefield sent his hands flying forwards, hooking Donatello around the waist, turning his body and all but throwing his small brother over his hip and to his chest, knees meeting hard jagged stone and brother tight in his arms. Leo's chin catching Don's scalp under his chin. The light burning the back of his scalp, but he was ready. His body prepared to take any sacrifice to protect his Donatello-

Then he felt it

The instability running over Donatello, like a drop of water. The panic shooting through him, heart beating so wildly in his chest that he could feel it pounding against the skin of wrists. HIs arms tightening, if Don had been solid, he probably would of been crushed by the sheer force of his arms, "DONNIE!" his hand going up to tap his face. If only to see him react to his presence slowly the color of Don's form began to fade. The dark purple of his samue disappearing, the light of his flesh turning transparent under the light.

He wasn't' being destroyed.

He was being taken

_"LEO! ANIKI!' _Don's voice passing his ear like a ghost of the ear. So desperate, so scared

Terrified.

"I'LL FIND YOU!" the scream tore through his lips before he could stop himself. Unable to contain his own desperation, "I SWEAR ON THE FREAKIGN SPIRITS I'LL FIND YOU! I'LL FIND YOU!"

The last trace of his brother vanished. With nothing to hold, his arms folded over his chest. Light fading. Revealing his dread

Gone.

His brother was gone.

TAKEN.

A powerful grip took his gut like a fist twisting his organs and sending him doubled over, arm tight around his stomach as he heaved heavily, the contents burning the lining of his throat. His forehead resting on the floor.

STOLEN

Leo forced his head off of his shaking cold hand, grabbing onto the stone wall and dragging himself to his feet.

Sohei

Don had said that name. The monks that had trained him when Don had saved him from the Red River Virus.

His only hope.

Leo's feet met slid ground, all but charging out of the dark cave. Bright light stinging his sensitive eyes. His hand going up for just a moment to wipe the sting from them. Away from the cave that had cruelly taken his brother. Barely acknowledging the village around him. But the sight of his home reaching his sight. He could see Usagi standing just outside of the home he shared with his brothers. , Mikey was watching with smile on his face. Splinter with his arm wrapped around his youngest son. Leo was sure that Lorenzo was inside the house, resting his aged body. Raphael sitting on the walkway with a heavily casted leg

How was Leo supposed to tell him?

How was he supposed to tell Raphael he had lost the little brother he had helped raise?

How could he face any of them?

He could see the friendly hand of Mikey that had risen to greet him. But he also saw Raph lean forward more in his seat. Usagi's sword lowering and Splinter rising to his feet. Acknowledging the one prescnce theyf noticed was missing

How could he tell them-?

"Leonardo-"  
It hurt him to ignore Usagi, but he jumped right onto the walkway, past where his brothers sat and into the house.

"Leo-"

Leo grabbed his bed roll, "Donnie was taken." his throat squeezing tight as to choke the words off. AS though keeping from saying the truth would keep it from solidifying. His hands stopped their frantic packing. Hands drawing to his chest as he leaned forward onto his elbows his fingers finding their place against his face. If only to hold his grie-

A fist collided with the back of his skull, red consuming his vision and his face meeting the tatami floors. A hand grabbing his shoulder, flipping him over as though he were a blanket. Through his pain filled vision he could see amber eyes glaring at him like torches

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN DON'S GONE!?" Raph screamed in his face. But before the explanation could come, the first flew again, making contact with face again, warm blood filling his mouth-

Fat blue sleeved arm caught Raph around the shoulder. Despite the red masked kame's strength, Usagi and Splinters combined weight was able to send him falling off of Leos' chest, freeing his choked airway. He rolled over to his side, hand to try and clear out his vision, "Kuso..."his honesty wasn't sure if was surprised to be awake or surprised to still have a head-

Speaking of which, a clawed hand ran over his scalp, going to the back of his head to support it off the floor, a separate hand going to the gash in his face, "My son-"

"I'm alright." Leo's hand went up to push the hand away from his injury. Forcing himself back up to his feet in time to see Usagi on his knees, Raph tight against his chest with an arm tight around his neck in a choke hold. Raph's normally emerald skin was blazed and eye burning like torches.

Not that Leo didn't deserve being attacked-

"Tell me what happened,"

Nor did he have time to think back to the last 4 minutes. But his father's eyes looked at him so patiently, torn with anxiety. Leo took several deep breaths in a meditative state he had learned from his adopted father. He could just feel a small hand take his.

Aka-chan

Leo squeezed his eyes shut; he couldn't look at his younger brother. Mikey had been the who had told Leo were Don had gone. Bribing him with the ability to stay up later that night.

He didn't want Mikey to blame himself

"I went to get Donnie out of the cave; I thought it was too cold for him to be in." Leo could still remember running his hand over Don's forehead. Feeling the cold of his skin, the irritated frown on Dons face that always formed when Leo got too 'motherly'.

Kaede

How was he going to tell Kaede-?

NO.

He couldn't think about that right now

Leo took another breath, "We were getting ready to leave, but the symbol on the wall had started glowing. I grabbed Donnie and tried to protect him. I held on to him as tight as I could." he looked back over to Raph, "I did, but he started to fade away. I couldn't stop it-'

"Couldn't or didn't try hard enough you weak ass shit face-"

"**Sairensu**!"

The word shot through the small room. Voices and movement falling and ceasing. Leo could see that Raph had even stopped fighting against Usagi's' restraint (also that Usagi looked quite relieved for the break).

Over the course of the short time they had been reunited, Leo often forgot that his birthfather had once been a prisoner. Or even that he was a hardened warrior ninja. Especially when he would see Splinter telling Mikey stories, or laying a cold cloth over Dons' often fevered brow.

Except in moments like this.

When the old rat stood tall. Dark eyes shooting over every occupant. Staff firm in his hands and stature straight.

"What do you have planned, my chonan?"

Despite the title it took Leo a few seconds to realize Splinter had started talking to him. Leo drew himself onto his knees, careful not to pull his hand free of Mikey's trembling ones, "Before the symbols began to glow, Don said he recognized them. That he had seen them at the Sohei temple. I'm going to go there and find a way to get our brother back." His head lowering till his chin met his chest, sliding down till it met the floor.

Kenkyo

"Usagi, go gather food for your brother's journey." Splinters voice rang out, "Raphael, you are the only here who has been to the temple. Mark out a path for your older brother. If you cannot do that than do not hinder our attempts to bring your brother back."

Splinters words must have gotten to him, Leo could just the shadow of his brothers moving (Raph hobbling) and their shadows leaving his sight.

"Prepare for your journey Leonardo."

He wasn't' sure how he felt in that moment. Leo knew that Splinter wouldn't have hindered his journey o reattempts to save Don. But at the same time it was hard to ignore ether relief that had filled his chest. Leo's hand pulling from Mikey's' ever so gently, but found no fight. So he turned back to his bed roll, moving it back into a tight wrap before trying it off.

"TH-this is a dream right?"

Leo's fingers stopped in mid knot to raise his head. Mikey had not moved from his spot. Even though Splinter was no longer in sight. His eyes looking down his fingers as though he didn't know what to do with them, "Th-this is a n-nightmare. I=I'I'm going to wake up a-any moment. D-Donnie is goi-going to be r-right next to me." Mikey's eyes closed over palms going up to block the light to his eyes. Leo's fingers fell from his bed roll. His own grief and situation prevented him from helping Don in whatever hell he had been taken too. But there was nothing in that moment to keep him from his Aka-chan, "Mikey-"

"I'm-I'm asleep. I'm going to wake up. Any moment-"

"Mikey I'm sorry-"

"Any-moment-"

Leo felt the bite of anguish return to his eyes, his fingers going to touch Mikey's' shoulder ever so lightly.

Suddenly the hands flew from Mikey's face, a fist shooting out and catching Leo in the jaw. Though not nearly as powerful as Raph's 'bone crushing' punch. IT was enough to jerk his head back. Leo's pride would have been wounded, had his fist not shot up and caught Mikey by the shoulder, yanking him over and wrapping his arms tightly around him. Mikey's form thrashing back and forth in his grip before Leo felt his face press against his shoulder, deep sobs bursting and warm tears staining his blue kimono. Leo's free hand pressing against the back of Mikey's scalp, "I'm so sorry-"

"I-I-I th-t-though-t su-such ho-horri-ble th-things." came the barley coherent sentence, "I-I-I wan-wanted t-to g—go t-to the c-cave. H-h-he ma—made me go h-home-"

"I know." Leo could still remember seeing Mikey storming towards the house, arms crossed and steaming about 'stupid brother.' And it was that very thought that brought the tears from Mikey's eyes.

"Wh-why di-dn't it take you too?"

That question. That very question. That had been racking in his mind, buzzing around like a swarm of bees

WHY DIDN'T IT TAKE HIM?  
Perhaps the situation would not seem so dire if he had been taken too. TO be allowed to watch over and protect their brother. Maybe it was the uncertainty that was making his head unbearable to even think. What ifs pounding around in his mind desperate for answers

What if he got hurt?

_Who would tend his injuries?_

What if he got sick?

_Who would keep him warm_

What if he lost his medicine?

_Who would take care of him?_

What if he woke screaming? Scared and trapped in his own mind

_Who would hold him?_

What if someone grabbed him?

_Who would protect him?_

What if he became a prisoner again?

_Who would free him?_

**What if he wasn't alive?_  
_**

A gut wrenching shudder shot over Leos' flesh, his grip around Mikey tightening, "I'm going to find him." he whispered to his sobbing baby brother, "I'm going to find him. I'm going to bring him home."

"I-I wanna go with you."  
"No." He wasn't even going to think about it, "I need you to stay here. For Raph. I don't trust him to be alone right now. And he and Usagi aren't very close, so you have to keep an eye on him. Ok?"

He could just feel his brother nod into his shoulder. Leo closed his eyes, if only to relish in the fact that Mikey was still safe. That Usagi was safe. That, even though he was pissed, Raph was still safe.

IT was about the only thing keeping him together in that moment.

"Leonardo."

His birthfathers voice was just behind the 'good' side of his head. Soft to not break the womb of comfort that Leo had been trying to create for Mikey. Without looking he nodded, showing his father he understood. Leo could just feel Mikey's fingers dig tighter into his clothes. With a small nuzzle to the side of Mikey's face, he drew away slowly, hands running down Mikey's' arms. Raising his head ever so slightly if only to make eye contact with him one more time

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

Leo turned, grabbing the bag of food from Usagi's' hand and climbed to his feet, "And Raph?" he asked. Looking from father to adopted brother. But the look Usagi gave him told him everything.

He had gone to the cave.

And he knew better than anyone to try and drag him out, "Make sure he gets food and water alright? And don't leave him alone for too long." keeping his tone hushed to keep Mikey from hearing, "And send out Don's bird to Mother and Father. They need to know what happened."

"Already sent."

Leo tried to smile at Usagi in gratefulness. But his 'mask' had been all but used on Mikey. His hand went up to rest on Usagi's' shoulder before grabbing his bed roll and running out the door.

He tried to ignore the sound of Mikey bursting out sobbing again. Leo kept the pace all the way to the stable, ignoring the villager's inquiries and calling his name. Going right to Kaze and grabbing his saddle. All set up before he even had the horse out. Swinging on and clicking his heels with a loud shout. Sending him flying, set on his path. One name in his mind repeating over and over again to keep him powered.

DONATELLO.

**A/n**

**Translations**

**Kuso**!-Damn!

**Sairensu**!-Silence!

**Chonan-oldest** son

**Watashi ni, Otosan o motte ****iru**- I have to, father

**Kenkyo-** Humility


	5. Aching Sorrow

a/n if you're asking yourself, "de-ja-vu? " then yes. I took down teh chapterafter i realized this chapter was really flawed and I forgot some major things. So , rather then replace the chapter secretivley, i'm just reposting it. Its has way better grammar and I am way happier with it then last time

**The Soul Trembles**

* * *

Leo wasn't sure what he had been expecting from that evening. But he defiantly didn't expect to be sitting in the back of the sewer slider, wind whipping around his face. Even with the Sewer Sliders hovering capabilities, there was little to no shock absorbent, which made for an uncomfortable ride for those on the floor.

Currently that was his brother Donatello, sitting just in front of him on his knees and looking over the child in his lap wrapped up in his arms. If only to keep his unconscious form steady under Don's examination. It was a bit unnerving to see two in such close proximity. But he chose to ignore it. His mask was tight in his fist as he struggled to keep wiping the blood away from the boy's vermouth. The Youngers form hacking to the side, shivering even under the thin blanket that they kept in the Sewer Sliders med kit. Leos' arms were the only thing keeping the blanket around him. Leo really didn't know if it was keeping the younger Don warm, but it definitely couldn't hurt. He was torn between telling Raph (the driver) to slow down and telling him to speed up.

Leo watched Donnie turn the child's head toward himself. Looking over his pale face. A small shiver of impatient going over his normally eased mind, "Well?"

"I don't know Leo; I don't think its internal damage. I won't know anything until we get him back to the lair. "It was obvious that Leos' constant questions had begun to worn on his intelligent brother's patience. Who never wasted time to tell Leo he wasn't actually a doctor, and was barley qualified to do the things he had to do when the brothers found themselves injured

Leo honeslty wondered what all they coudl do for soemeon coughing up blood.

He could feel the Sewer Slider, indicating it slowing down. which could only mean one thing

Home

The large machine had barely slid to a stop before Leo had jumped out, just barely acknowledging Raph's shout on how he would park the Slider himself. Donnie was already close behind. The warmth of their Lair already sinking into his already warm skin but did little for the shivering body in his arms. He could already see Master Splinter standing at the door to the "Med Room".

If there was any comfort Leo could find in the world, it was in his father's presence.

For a bunch of mutants who lived in the sewer, they improvised pretty well when it came to medical equipment. Whatever outdated gear Don had been able to repair worked as well as any state of the art equipment. But they didn't have the simple things, like a hospital bed. Instead they had a thin mattress they had found a while back.

Leo lowered the younger Don onto the bed. The older all but pushing him out of the way. Taking a flashlight out of his belt and putting his fingers to the hinges of the child's jaw to finally give a (somewhat) official examination before grabbing a hold of the plastic mask that connected to the breathing machine, pulling the strap over the boys head so it rested over his beak. Despite the obvious size difference of a mask made to fit their face and one made to fit his.

Knowing they were home allowed Leo to release a deep breath he had been holding.

A familiar clawed hand ran over his arm. Drawing his attention to his father. Splinter gave him a kind smile before turning to the patient Don was looking out. His smile falling ever so lightly, "This is the turtle you found?"

"Yeah," Leo nodded, his hand going to rest on top of his fathers, "I talked to him before he passed out."

"Oh? What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything, either he can't talk or he was just too scared. But he understood what I was saying; he understood that I wasn't going to hurt him." Leo couldn't' help but feel a small swelling of pride in his chest. That he had been able to coax the younger Donatello out of running away. And even into allowing Leo to warm him up. His hand reached out to take a hold of the edges of younger Don's blanket again. If only to pull on the sheet and make sure he was covered. But the feeling began to die as the smile slid off his face, "I think he's here alone though."

"Why do you believe that?"

"It's a feeling I have. I don't think he would have been near to frantic if he had been with his own brothers. We can keep our ears open, but I think he got here alone."

Splinter nodded, with the look in his eyes, Leo wondered if Splinter felt the same sympathy he did? He wouldn't put it past his father, being the caring and loving father he was. The old rat walked around the bed to rest at the younger Don's other side, his nose twitching ever so lightly and his ears flattening before looking back to Leo, "Can I assume the two of you fell in the sewer water?"

"Yeah how did you know-" His confusion vanished when he realized his father had begun to smile, (even Don took time out of his examination to give Leo a small smirk). He lifted his arm long enough to sniff at his armpit. A horrible rank stinging his nose enough to make him blush lightly.

"My son, why don't you go clean yourself off while we tend to the child?"

Leo couldn't deny his smell, but his eyes went back to the younger Don. The blanket that they had wrapped him in was now soaking wet. Though the breathing mask around his mask was now misty, indicating its efficiency, he still found a pull in his chest. "You should probably get the sewer water off of him-" 

"Trust us my son, we will watch over him until you return." 

He wasn't sure how he liked his father phrasing it that way. What if he woke up while Leo was in the shower? What if he freaked out? But even so, he tucked the bloody mask into his belt before turning and leaving the room.

"Is he ok?"

Leo looked to see Mikey sitting on the couch, curled up with his shell against the armrest so his body was facing the Med Room. He wasn't that surprised that Mikey wasn't playing video games in light of their new guest. But he was surprised to see a glimpse of Raph in the kitchen. Head turning to look in his direction

It seemed that, whenever someone ended up in the Med Room that the rest of the family would spend the day in the living room, just so they could be near in case of emergency.

It was nice to know they were concerned.

"Don and Master Splinter are looking at him now." But he could see their eyes going to the bloody mask at his waist; it was definitely enough blood to uproot any faith they had in his statement. He cleared his throat and moved the mask slowly till it rested at the back of his belt, "Raph, did Casey leave any clothes here?"

"A few shirts, they're too big for that kid though."

"I just don't' think he'd like to walk around naked I think they'll work until we get him something more his size. Can you leave them in the Med Room for him?" After Raph nodded he looked to Mikey, "I need you to call April, see if she can get some clothes in his size."

"Got it bro," he got a thumbs up. A smirk covering his youngest brothers face," So go take a bath already, you're burning my eyes."

Leo couldn't help but smile, moving over to the bathroom (though he wanted to remind Mikey he didn't exactly smell like roses.

With the door closed, he moved over to the 'washing sink'; because none of them wore clothes, they only had a sink they used to soak their gear and Master Splinters robes. He took off his gear and dropped the gear into the water, mask following. Though already he didn't like feeling so bare (as funny as that came from someone who was always naked). But when he felt the warm water started to run over his body and felt it worth it, squirting some of the body wash into his palm to forth up and help with the cleaning process

What a freaking night

But he could still see the young turtle, shaking at the sight of him as the water almost froze his small form. Leo honestly didn't know what was worse. Seeing the younger Don shake (the combination of Leos' presence and the cold) or the sight of the blood that covered the bottom of his torn socked feet

He hated to thick they had chased him until his feet bled.

Leo finally felt he was done, switching off the water and dabbing himself dry (though it didn't take long) and returning his clean gear over his body. He didn't know how long he had been in the shower

(It couldn't of ben more than 20 minutes) He was a bit surprised to see Mikey and Raph standing in the doorway to the Med Room. Wondering what had happened to draw their attention. It couldn't have been anything too bad or someone would have yelled for him. His hand reached out to pat Mikey on the shoulder, indicating his presence as he moved past them.

The younger Don was now resting under layers of thick blankets; Leo could barely see that his shoulders were now covered in black clothing (probably Casey's shirt). His skin had returned to a healthier color. Leo couldn't help but feel relieved and pride in his intelligent brother's job "he looks much better guys." Leo hand went back to brush over the unconscious turtle's forehead. The warmth had drawn back, but his face was still cold. It was better than nothing. Maybe they could get a cold cloth for his brow-

It was then Leo realized his brothers hadn't said a word. He turned to look to were Don stood alongside their father. The smile they had been bearing when they had left, Leo stomach began to twist lightly in apprehension. Had he missed something? Was it the blood? Was it internal damage?" He is ok isn't he?"

"Yeah he's fine. The blood came from ruptured blood vessels and scars in his throat, but we got him to stop coughing so he should to be ok."

Ok, that sounded good "What's' wrong then?"

"We him washed off, just to make sure he didn't get sick from the water. But we found something on his arms. "Don moved over back to the bed, his hand going over under the blanket, taking a hold of something and slowly taking out the thin arm from the warmth of the blankets. The thin arm covered in dark mark. Centered around his wrists. Leo reached out and gently took the hand from Don putting the arm back under if only to keep him warm. But it didn't give him the warmth he wanted,

"And those aren't the only ones." 

Oh shell he didn't want to hear that, "There's more?" 

"He has a stab wound in the side, scars on his ankles. They match the scars on his wrists. He's been malnourished; both of his wrists were dislocated at some point. All by the same source." light brown eyes met his. Expecting him to fill the blank himself, Leo knew the answer

"Chains." he wished that his he was wrong, but a glance over to Don, to acknowledge the nod he had been given. If that word was bad, the other word that left his words had no rival

"Abuse. He's been abused."

A growl reached his ears, Leo turned in time to acknowledge Raph's sudden absence. The sound of his heavy steps, stomping away. The sound of slamming doors indicated his departure. Leo could only guess he had gone to the dojo to work off some frustration or anger.

Though he wasn't as close to Raph as he was Mikey, there had been a night when the two stayed up until the sun had come up. Sharing a bottle of sake Leo had gotten for his birthday. He had been hoping to encourage Raph back to the Lair (having left in a spout of anger). Normally this was Dons job. But because Leo had been the one talking to Raph upon his outburst, he felt it his duty to get him back.

Then Raph told him he had been listening to the TV. The news had been on a story of a father who had been convicted 'not guilty' of killing his 4 year old daughter.

Leo had never known that, stories like that, made Raph don on the Night Watcher persona. But he had realized a while ago that Raph did have a soft spot for kids. Heck, last he heard, Raph was even still in contact that Tyler kid he had met. It was that commitment that made him don the black leather. To fight what he hated more than anything else

Child Abuse

That's probably why Raph was choosing to lock himself in the dojo now.

Leo couldn't worry about Raph right now; quick eye contact with Don sent his calmest brother after Raph before he turned back to Splinter, "His health and safety should be our priority right now. He's safe now, so we should just make sure he stays healthy. We can update our priorities when we know he's going to be ok."

His father nodded, the smile on his face ensuring Leo of his approval. Turning to leave the room, Mikey had turned to follow when he looked back to Leo, "What about you bro?"

"I think I'm going to stay here. I don't want him to wake up alone."

"Wanna take shifts?"

"Nah, I was the last person he saw, it might help him if I'm the first person he sees when he wakes up." Leo put on a smile though. If only to alleviate his youngest brother of the thoughts he knew were wracking his mind, "He'll be fine, just go buy pizza and have fun."

Mikey nodded lightly before walking out of the room. Leo closed the door before looking back to the bed, sitting down on the chair and leaning back on the cushion.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

"Leo?"

Leo woke with such a start; it sent his chair on its back legs. ITs precarious angle sending his arms waving wildly to find something to keep him from falling. Hands suddenly grabbed the back of the chair and forced it back onto all 4's. Leo took a moment to regain his composure, glancing to make sure the child was still asleep before looking behind him to see Don smiling at him a satisfied smirk, "Really? I thought you were the 'Ultimate Ninja."

"You're thinking of the Daimyos Son. And I was asleep. "Leo cast the boy another glance, a bit surprised that he was still asleep in all his thrashing before looking back to Don, "Everything ok?"

"Yeah, everyone's just relaxing." the stressed lines that had been on Donnie's' face when telling Leo about the 'abuse', now relaxed. Leo felt a bit relieved to know he was calmer. Notching the bundle of clothes in his arms as the ones they had removed from younger Don. Leo reached and took the other chair to pull up. His brother taking the invitation to sit down, "I was looking at his blood work, I think I understand something now."

"What is it?"

"I thought, since he's another version of me, that he might have asthma. But I took an x-ray of his lungs, it looks like his respiratory system is scarred, his blood work indicates he's immune systems depleted to an extent. Honestly, considering where he's' from its lucky he's alive. I think our polluted air is hard on his lungs with immediate exposure, so it would be wise to keep him on our breathing machine, maybe the portable one, and introduce him to our air a little bit at a time. It won't be impossible for him to breathe our air. "

"That's good." that was something alteast. He had almost forgotten about their portable-wait. Leo looked ask to Don, "HIs time period?"

The smile grew on Dons face, laying the folded clothes onto his lap and lifting up the strange purple shirt he had been wearing "This is a samue. It's a shirt worn by Sohei monks." then turned to the pants, "But these are the style of kimonos worn by average Japanese citizens in time period. Including the straw sandals.' he picked up the one remaining show he had been wearing, "In other words, Feudal japan."

That was new, Leo looked over to the kid again," Like Miyamoto Musashi?"

"The same, It explains the-" The smile slid off his face,

"Abuse?"

"Yeah, but I realized his body shows signs of recently gained weight. Most of the scars have healed over and haven't reopened. If they had, it would indicate he was currently in the same position."

"SO he's not abused anymore?" that was something they could tell Raph. If only to keep him from completely destroying the dojo

"The chain scars on his wrists have reopened recently, but other than that yeah. And the knife wound on his side is alteast 3 years old. It was given proper treatment so he was ok afterwards. I think he was abused for a short time, but it was pretty substantial, then someone saved him from it." 

Leo should of felt comfort, but a thought reached him," He was stabbed when he was 8?" Shell that was depressing. But a small chuckle reached his ears. Leo looked back to Don to see him smiling lightly, "What?"

"That's' the thing, as you can see there are obvious physical differences between him and us. Other than the size, He has a small pocket behind his shoulder blades and shell, and under the bottom part of the shell. And his shell is pretty small. It allows him to wear clothes and move naturally. It's like he evolved to be like this rather then forced through mutation. "

"So-"

"Judging by the way his clothes fit around the shell, I'd say he comes from a world that allows him to have a turtle heritage like him. A world like Usagi's. And he's somewhere around 13 or 14 years old."

Leo wasn't sure what to address first, (maybe it was the unhinged jaw that had flown open. Maybe it was the idea this turtle came from a world that was accepting of 'ninja turtles' that gave him the chance to have a large family and run in the sun light

Nope, none of those,

"_HE'S 14_!?"Leo Looked backed as though expecting the boy to grow and stretch to an appropriate more believable size, "You got to be kidding me-"

"Nope, Splinter told me you thought he was mute so I looked at his throat. Both his dental records and development of his vocal chords indicate he's in puberty. "Don looked back to him, "I looked over his clothes again, they're pretty badly torn, but they look like they were doubled layered. They even sew initials into his clothes. "A soft smile went across Don's face, "Where ever dimension he's from, he has people who want him to stay warm.'  
That was a nice thought. It was enough to send smile to his face. Knowing there were people back in younger Don's world who were worried about him. Leo leaned back in his seat again.

A knock went across the door; Leo glanced over to Don to see if he knew who was on the other side. But Don shuffled light. "Come in!"

The door creaked open slowly, a familiar pale face with banned red hair poked in. A warm smile on her face; that Leo enjoyed to see on many occasion. Except this time he was confused "April? Did you buy the clothes already?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to come by." her eye spoke mischievous, "I couldn't resist after I heard about lil Don."

""lil Don?"

"That's what Mikey called him. Can I see him?"

Leo almost said no, but remembering the young boy was asleep, he nodded. A brighter smile went across her face as she stepped in. Despite the comfortable weather (a break from the cold spell they had been having) she had chosen to wear a yellow zip up hoody. Though Leo could not remember ever seeing April wear a sweater that baggy before

Oh well

Her eyes went over to the med bay. Bright red lips parting in a small gasp before looking back over to Leo (who could help but smile), "My god, he really is small. And adorable, I guess Mikey wasn't exaggerating."

"He's 14."

"What!?" Her eyes went back over to him, doing the same double glance as Leo had, "Casey didn't say he was this small when he was numbed."

"Embarrassment makes for a good memory repressor." and knowing Casey, he was sure to have more than a few repressed memories. (He couldn't help but laugh at his own private joke). Aprils hand reached out lightly as though contemplating resting her hand on the blanket, but logic won over and she drew it back, looking back over to the older Don," Those are his clothes right?"

"Yeah, they're torn pretty bad. He had a rough night."

"I want to make sure I got the right size." she gently took the purple samue in her hands and lifted it up, Turing in to look at the small opening in the back, 'I think I can repair them. Maybe I can even repeat this weird hole in the clothes I got him."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it. I don't know how long he's going to be here. So the more we can do to make him more comfortable the better."

The samue was folded, draped over her arm; she glanced back at the torte before looking back to Leo, "I think I'll come back later when he's awake. "

"Just remember the first human he met had him running through the streets, your husband. So don't be hurt if he doesn't' warm up to you immediately."'

"Oh don't worry. I had to win over Casey's mother remember?" she gave him a small wink before walking out of the room, her hand brushing over his shoulder in parting. Leo heard the chair next to him creak and looked over,' "You're leaving too Don?"

"Might as well, you got things here and I want to go my lab for a bit. If anything happens I want you to yell for me alright?"

Leo wasn't sure what else he would have done so he just nodded. His brother smiling before reaching into the remaining clothing and drew out a small book, one Leo recognized immediately as the one that he had been reading a while, "Lone Survivor?"

"I thought you'd go crazy sitting here with nothing to do." the book was set on the hospital bed side, along with the clothes, "Night Leo." 

"Night Don." the truth was Leo was really happy Don had brought his book by (he had been contemplating folding up some paper into cranes and placing them on the sleeping boys forehead to see how long they stayed there). Leo leaned back in his seat before looking back over to the folded clothes that remained. His fingers toyed with the stack until he caught the strand of mask that seemed to be 'mandatory' for all dimensional turtles.

He drew the mask out slowly before unfolding it and resting it on two palms, it was much smaller than his own mask. Worn ND faded, Leo ran his fingers over the material, turning it over and doing the same-

What?"  
His fingers caught on in stitched string. It wasn't' put in a place that would require stitching. He ran his fingers over the material again. It was a letter. What was it? Leos 'mind wracked through Japanese, he knew this letter-

"R?"

Yeah, an R, his fingers ran next to it, that was K. His fingers moving to the right, No, this one had been removed. But it looked like it had been removed. Another took its place, L? Yeah defiantly a L. Then M, U, D, S, and another L. There were others but these were the most prominent. Did they stand for something? Like code-

R, L, M

He could have slapped himself for being so slow

Raph, Leonardo, Mikey

These were initials. Names in his family. Judging by the number of them, there were quite a few. Three were a few on the rather side but he din' recognize them. SO who were U, D, S, and K? And why had H been removed? Did he die, no, if he had simply died they the letter would have stayed? He must of done something bad enough for this Don to tear his initial out.

Either way

He had a family.

A small whine reached his ears. Leo dropped the mask on the table in time to see the olive eyelids began to quiver, a crack opening between them and weak light brown eyes opened. Looking around meekly. Leo realized that splinter his own Donatello hadn't realized he had woken up yet. His eyes struggling to absorb the room around him before falling on him. Confusion, a question in barley conscious eyes,

Leo slowly allowed a smile to go across his face, his hand reaching to run his fingers over the child's. He could barely feel his frozen fingers twitch in response before relaxing again, indicating the younger Dons descent into sleep again.

Even so, Leo felt a smelt of relief, returning to his spot and sitting down. Looking back to the small kame before picking up the book

(#)(#)(#)(#)

_Some claim that with power came more freedoms. More privileges, weekends off and sleeping in till you dam well felt like it. But those had never been things that Drove Bishop. He didn't have a need for a big house, or days off. Not as he walked down the line of computer techs. Every eye was glancing over their screens and at their own work. These were but a few of the surveillance techs that he had monitoring the country. These rooms alone, all 34 of them, were just used to monitor New York. Other states had their own monitoring stations. Then again, New York was a special case._

_New York is where everything happened. _

_He couldn't help but smirk as a thin geeky tech shivered as Bishop to a stand behind him, he could just see his nervous eyes peer back as 'slowly' as he could. If only to keep the image as 'meek' and 'pathetic' techie, "C-Can I help you sir?"  
"No." and he kept it at that before turning back and walking up the line._

_How he enjoyed unnerving people_

_It showed he was something to fear_

_"Sir! Bishop Sir!"_

_The smile all but slid off his face as he turned back to the smartly dressed agent behind him, clipboard in hand. Bishop remembered this one, he had been promoted recently, "What is it Walker?"_

_"One of our Surveillance techs caught something on the camera, Sector A-g-level 43."_

_Downtown residential area by the river, Bishop had all the areas memorized, "And?"_

_"He believes he caught something interesting. TH-that maybe you should take a look sir."_

_"How interesting?" He could vaguely remember the time when one of the Surveillance techs though a cat playing the key board was interesting enough to draw his attention_

_That Tech no longer remembered his name, where he had worked, or how to keep his bowels from leaking over himself in the mental ward he was now at. But Walker said a word that was enough to make his brow twitch and gain his full attention_

_"Turtles sir."_

_The smile returned to his face_

_"Show me."_

* * *

**a/n**

**Don**, "8C LIL DON?!

**Charmy**, "What? Mikey's coming up with!"

**Don**, "I STILL BLAME YOU! I BLAME YOU FOR EVERYTHING!"

**Charmy**, "O.o calm down!"

**Don**," NO! NOT THIS TIME! YOU PULL ME FROM MY HOME, I GET CHASED ACROSS A CITY, I COLLAPSE, AND NOW MIKEYS' THINKING OF CALLING ME LIL DON!? I'M GOING TO SHOVE MY BO RIGHT UP YOUR-"


	6. A world so cold

**Chapter 6: A world so cold**

* * *

**A warm embrace**

* * *

_An arm choked around his chest, the phantom pain hat haunted his wrists from his past imprisonment had been obscured by the real chains that kept them tight together. His eyes barely penetrating the darkness around him and his feet acknowledging the stone boulder under his feet and the rushing water that he was just barely an inch from._

_And the laughter_

_So much laughter_

"_Look at him Leo! Doesn't he look like he's having fun!?" came the voice holding the end of the chain, "He's practically shaking with excitement!" the chain slacked for a moment. The precarious angle that Don had on the boulder slipped for a moment, his knees all but cracking on the hard stone where he could feel warm blood began to ebb_

"_Damu yarō!" Don had never known his oldest brother to sound so desperate, but it dripped from his tone. He was actually a bit grateful he couldn't see Leos' face," LET HIM GO!"_

"_Didn't you know!?" there was a harsh bark like laugh, "Didn't you get the news?! It's Shi no shibō world Leonardo!" the chain slacked again and a hand gripped his front, twisting around and holding him from the safety of the boulder, cold mist damping the clothes of the body. Despite his best efforts to not give the manic fool satisfaction. He would not admit to his fear of the swirling river underneath that he had no defense against, or of the manic fool who held him at his mercy._

_He would not admit to this day, but the mere whisper of that phrase haunted his darkest nightmares_

_Shi no shibō_

_Death for Death_

**(#)(#)(#)(#)**

Ow….

Why did his head hurt so much? It throbbed in consistence with his heart. Pulsing through his body, his mouth tasted of foul metal. If he had to compare it to anything, he would compare it to the mornings when Raph was curled up under his blanket in the morning, paying for a night of excursions and drinks. Don would spend the morning trying to explain why his brother had a hangover till his brother threatened him with groundings or threw stuff at him till his fled with an innocent nativity wondering why his brother would act in such a way

But now he perfectly understood his brother's rage.

Despite his little memory lane moment, he struggled through his aching mind to find the source of his agony. He probably fell under a fever, which would explain why he didn't remember anything, the blood taste in his mouth giving him more then he needed in terms of clue. With a whine he tried to roll his head around. If only to alive the ache in his-

What?

His body freezing, realizing the tight strap around the back of his head. The outline of something hard wrapped around his beak and cold mist blowing against his mist-

Then it came back to him

Don all but sling shot into a sitting position. The warm blankets covering him flying off and cold air striking his flesh through his shirt. The strap around his mouth tightening. Don looked down on the clear casing and saw the perpetrator as a sort of tube, his hand snapping up and yanking-

A hand grabbed his wrist, familiar green hand that stopped him in mid yank. Don jerked his head around to have his face meet bare plastron, dark eyes bearing down on him with a mixture of concern and disapproval behind a familiar blue mask. His brother. Leonardo. Right there, his brother was right there-

Don eyes suddenly drifted down his brother's front, before the panic over took him again

AND NAKED

Don all but jumped out of the grasp of his brother's touch. Yanking on the mask's straps before a snapping sound fill the air, his foot shot up to land on this 'naked demon brother's chest.' A well-aimed muscle spasm sent him flying over the other side of the bed. He could just see the same hand try to grab him again with a cry of surprise

SPIRITS THIS BED WAS HIGH UP!

Before he could fully acknowledge how high it was, he was greeted by a hard cold stone floor right to the face. Warm blood immediately began to run into his eyes from his forehead. Dons hand going to his eyes to block the new flow. A hand grabbed his shoulder; Don raised his head to shove his naked brother away when his eyes met familiar light brown eyes.

Familiar because they were HIS eyes.

HIS EYES behind his mask

He was staring back at himself

At a naked version of himself

A cry tore from Dons' lips, legs shooting out against the floor his shell meeting something that easily moved out of the way. He caught a blimps at a strange box sitting on sticks, wheels allowing it to move without falling over, the mask he had pulled free of dangling from it. He could still just hear the hiss of mist coming from it-

Hands suddenly grabbed a hold of his wrists. Familiar pain shooting up his forearms and up his shoulders. Don cried out in ill preparation to the pain before his leg shot up, his toes jabbing into his demon duplicates bare shoulder. His duplicates eyes lit up in surprise before squeezing shut. His 'mirror' copy cried out , releasing his wrists and falling back on his tail hand going up to hold his now numb arm.

Don was grateful for his mother teaching him that trick.

But by now the 'naked' Leonardo had jumped over the bed, going to the side of his duplicate. Don pressed his feet on the ground, pushing back till his shell met hard wall. His heart beat redoubling when he realized he was trapped between the bed (the very HIGH bed) and the demon mirror duplicates of himself and his brothers (very naked demon mirror duplicates of himself and his brother). The blood all but running into his eye despite his best effort. His whole body, now with the absence of the warm blanket. An ache going through his chest that was all too familiar as he began to hack into his hands. He didn't realize how warm the air had been, sticky and thick. His throat ached in a familiar way that.

Scared.

Abandoned.

Hurt

Aching

He felt tears began to run down the side of his face. Don was disgusted with his response. He wanted the pain to go away. He wanted these naked demons to go away. His knees drew in to his chest and face met them in attempt to hide his shame. His sadness.

He wanted to go home.

In the midst of Don's pathetic whimpers, he could just hear the Naked Leonardo whisper to naked him. Donnie didn't know what he was saying, but could just hear bare feet brushing again stone. The sound of popping metal and scraping wood. Indicating his departure. The sound of brushing skin filled his ears again. This time it was moving closer, oh spirits Naked Leonardo was coming closer. Another heavy cough burst form his lips, curling up into a little ball praying he would leave-

Swiftly, though with surprising gentleness a thick arm forced its way between his chest and knees, wrapped in around his arms. Before Don could give him the head-butt he deserved the horrid mask was shoved right back over his beak. Don tried to thrash his head around but the force keeping the mask over his mouth forced his head back against a plastron, he wasn't sure how naked Leonardo managed to grip him in such a hold, his shell pressed against his opponents plastron, his neck couldn't even move-

It was only then he realized the mist being blown against his lips was soft. It was nice and cool and the opposite of the air that seemed to make up this air. Hesitantly he drew in a breath in unison off the mist. The painful spasaming of his lungs finally coming to an end in blissful peace. Don allowed his eyes to close. The lightheadedness returning. His body began to relax relinquishing into Naked Leonardo's warmth (trying to ignore the naked part).

The pressure keeping the mask around his beak lessened. He wasn't' sure how Naked Leonardo managed to clip the mask back around his mouth. But the hold he had on Donnie had lessened into more of an embrace then being held prisoner.

He knew this embrace

He knew this Leonardo.

Don turned his head, looking up to 'other' Leonardo. Unsure of what to say, but the other Leonardo seemed to chuckle lightly, "I'm sorry about the oxygen mask. You weren't reacting well to the air, so Donnie, _our_ Donnie, thought it might be best you wear it for now and we can get you used to our air a bit at a time."

Oxygen? What was that? Whatever it was, it made his throat feel better, he almost had a feeling the air in this world was contaminated. It would explain why he wasn't reacting well to it-

This world?

That was right; he could remember his Aniki trying to get him out. The horrible bright light...

He could remember everything.

He remembered this Leonardo. He remembered being in the stone tunnel, shaking and shivering.

He remembered this Leonardo offering him warmth.

A cloth pressed against the stinging wound to his head. Don couldn't help but wince (and wonder when Leonardo had gotten that). Hadn't Leonardo hit his head too? Don glanced back at his forehead, the bandage that Don had pulled from his bandages with anoth-

Don glanced down at his arms. The normal pale sheen that acknowledged that he had bandages of them was replaced by the pale olive sheen of his own flesh. Disgust in his own gut from the sight of the lighter jagged scars that ran up them, the fact that people saw them-

Wait

What was he wearing?

His samue, undershirt and hakamas had been replaced with a long one piece black short sleeved shirt. It seemed to hold an image of four of those pig-skinned humans, though they weren't the pale pink he had come to expect by appeared to have skin stylized with white and black. Their hair sticking out and outrageous ways and one of them had their tongue sticking out at an unmorally long length.

"Sorry about Casey's shirt. We don't have clothes so we had to borrow our friends. Yours were pretty badly torn."

Apparently this "Casey" fellow was a freaking giant. The edges of the shirt freaking reached his knees. Maybe Casey was one of those pig skinned creatures he had seen- but the thought was interrupted by a second one when he felt a shiver through his neck.

Where was his Aniki's scarf?  
His steady heartbeat began to hammer in his chest. Don rose up to his knees before a hand went to his shoulder and pushed down on his shoulder, forcing his eyes to meet Leonardo's again

" What's wrong?"

Don wanted to tell him, he wanted to know what had happened to his brother's scarf. If he had nothing left from his home world he wanted that he h ad to look for it-

Something was placed in his lap. Drawing his attention to a blue clean cloth.

Leonardo's scarf.

Greedily he gathered the material in his hands. The stink from the water he had fallen into had been completely cleaned. But still he held it in his fingers running over the stitching his mother had meticulously put into it, to endure his life settle as a warrior.

Though there was no point in it, he drew the scarf to his face; he could pretend to be in that memory. The one when his brother wrapped it around his neck. His Aniki had been nothing but warm and kind to him since they had been reunited. There had been so many times when Leo's protectiveness made him want to scream or run away.

But right now he'd give anything to have his family hold him. To cling to them like the child he always claimed to never be

He just wanted his family,

A light touch brushed his wet cheeks, even though he didn't know when he had started crying his body shuddered heavily jerking his head away but it met the breathing box again. When he realized the dampness on his face had all but wiped away. Apprehensively he turned back to see Leonardo's kind smile, his sympathetic eyes were soft. But they didn't hold the degrading dreading pity that people normally looked upon him with. Don was grateful that this Leonardo hadn't tried to crowd him, but rather had sat against the wall, one knee drawn in, head going down to rest on it. Don looked back to the scarf, running his fingers over the material again.

His piece of home

"Are you alright Donatello?"

Donnie nodded pulling the scarf to his chin before looking over to Leonardo again.

"I know you just woke up, but it would make me feel better if you lay on the bed.

They even used the same tactics to get Donnie to rest. It was never "it's best for you" but rather "It'd make me feel better" and playing on Don's innate urge to please his big brother. It was almost unfair, but the trust was the only other option Don had was to go out of the room to further integrate himself with his hellish world he was part of now. Donnie reached p and took the handle of the bed to pull himself up slowly. There was an unfamiliar strain to his arms that only verified his theory of being sick.

Again

Before he could really see how weak his arms were he felt hands go to his sides. They weren't exactly holding him, but they braced his body enough to help him stand up. Don turned back to smile his thanks to Leonardo before crawling back into the elevated bed. It was a strange mattress that was covered in thin blankets with thicker ones over it. As he was rolling onto his shell he felt the blankets being pulled over his body. Don looked back over to the other Leonardo before resting his head on the pillow again. His hands gripping the scarf tightly in his hands. His hand moving it around his neck

"Are you sure you want to do that you might choke on it."

Despite the concern in the other Leo's voice Donnie gave him a small glare, daring him to take away his Aniki's scarf away. He curled up under the blanket before pulling the sheet over his head in much the same way he used to as a child. But he didn't care.

A hand rested on his arm over the blanket. It was a soft touch that was almost apologetic. Unlike last time, Donnie did his best not to pull away in panic. He had already been cruel enough in the way he had 'numbed' his otherworldly self and punched his 'other Aniki' in the face.

"If you need anything, I'll be right outside the door, don't be afraid to ask. There's some of our medicine on the table next to you if you start coughing."

Donnie nodded softly curling up into a tighter ball. The sound of clicking mechanism, Scraping metal scraping across the floor. Don pulled the blanket away from his eyes long enough to glare at the door for a moment. The one thing keeping him safe from the savage world that he was now in. It was a good thing he wasn't hungry, he wasn't planning on asking for anything from this Leonardo for a while.

Not only that, but he really was tired.

He tucked his beak deeper under the blanket, right under the scarf before closing his eyes.

This world may not be hell

But it wasn't home.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

Don knew he wasn't going to sleep, but he could still just barely hear the sounds of people moving around outside of the room. Truth be told, he was hoping if he pretended to go to sleep (or didn't make any noise) that they would leave. He simply watched the door through the blanket till the sound began to fade. Slowly he took the edges of the blanket and poked his head out, ready to fake sleep again if someone came back.

It didn't' look like that was the case

He wasn't sure what time it was due to the lack of sunlight or any light at all. But the ache of his body had all but gone away, even the one in his throat. Dons hand went over his neck to ensure there wasn't' tightness to the muscles. One thing about this world, it did have good medicine. Even though his body was on the path to healing. If he had been at home, this would be the point he'd diagnose himself as 'better' and would have snuck out of his room to hide in his lab till his older brothers discovered his 'escape' and went to drag him back.

Honesty his brothers should of realized that at this point that was never going to give in to the overbearing motherliness they had thrust onto him.

Donnie tucked the top of his scarf under his chin as his eyes ran over the room. The 'elevated table' had a strange drawer at the bottom that he found himself pulling open. Inside lay a wrapping of cloth that Don could only conclude was a bandage.

He wasn't sure if there was some sort of conduct he was supposed to follow. All he knew was that he hated having his arms bare. His scars were known to gain sympathetic eyes and it was bad enough to have people pitying him for his height and weight. He took the roll into his hands and began to unravel it; wrapping it over his arms with the same skill he obtained as an I-sha before looking back to the room to occupy his mind.

There were four other elevated beds. The walls were lined the walls, bounded scrolls , the kind that Leatherhead used to have a 'desk' (he remembered Leatherhead had one at their shop) shoved in the corner a strange metal stick sticking out of the table with a strange glass ball at the end. But the walls were of the same structure as the buildings he had seen outside. But these were more like a fortress then the buildings he had seen. And, unless he was mistaken these were the same type of wall that came from the underwater river.

Were they underground?

It would make sense, it would add to his theory that 'kames were the minority. Not that they weren't the minority in his world, but they didn't have to live underground either.

He just had a feeling this was how they lived all the time.

Don's eyes fell back to the bookshelves with a hunger. Leatherhead never let him read his leather-bound books, though Donnie never blamed him, it was a sort of forbidden treasure that Don always wanted to be a part of. His eyes glancing over to the door that separated him from the rest of the turtles' home'.

Would it be alright?

Would they have put him in there if he wasn't' allowed to touch them?

Was it ok?

Donnie pulled the blankest of his legs and slowly slid out of the bed. Glancing back over to the door to make sure that no one was coming. Not that he thought he'd get in trouble, or that it mattered.

he felt a tug on his 'leash' and remembered the annoying pain in the ass that had been giving him oxygen for the past few days he had been in this world ( how long had he been out? He almost didn't want to find out). Don turned to give the cursed 'breathing machine a hateful glare before taking a hold of the 'rope that connected his mask to the machine and gave it a tug to get rewarded with the sound of squeaking wheels

A smile went to his face

Mobility!

Don pulled the breathing box all the way to the wall, his hand going up to run over the leather edges, there was so many of them! Don ran his finger over the edge of a larger brown bound one before dragging it out by the tip, the large bound scroll (a book was it?) falling into his hand. The Cover had a single line across the top, but the writing went from side to side and was written in some sort of stick writing that reminding him of some doodles he had done as a child.

"I was wandering when you'd get to that."

Light flooded the room, Dons' body jerked and the book all but flew out of Don's hands and clattered to the floor with the pages to the dirt, Don retreating and shell meeting wall again in an act of panic. Eyes to the ground and hands behind his shell

"Hey no wait!" the footsteps were already at his side, grabbed his arm. Don couldn't help but yank out of his grip immediately, ignoring his previous thought of lowering his 'cruelty'. When the hand returned to his arm again, Don fought his natural instincts to pull away, but he kept his gaze to the floor,

"Its alight Donatello, I wasn't mad at you or anything like that." his tone was just as soft as it had been when this Leonardo had been trying to keep him warm, it was such a mirror of his Aniki's that it only strengthen his urge to stare at the floor. Or more specifically at Leonardo's bare feet.

Wasn't he cold from running around naked so much?

"You're not a prisoner here, you're our guest." the grip on his shoulder softened as it started to run up and down the length of his arm, "You can look at the books if you want."  
Well, he knew that. Even so Don turned his head away from where Leonardo stood, choosing rather to stare at one of the crudely cut stones that made up the wall. Spirits, why was he shaking so bad?! Was he really so scared of this mirrored version of his brother?

He heard a small sad sigh come from this Leonardo. The grip falling from his shoulder (though he honestly didn't feel better). Out of the corner of his eye he saw the book on the ground being lifted up. Leonardo's' hand reaching out to take his hand, once again Don had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from pulling away, his hand turned over so the palm faced upward, the book placed at the palm of his hand.

Don broke his 'stare' to look to make eye contact with this Leonardo. The older turtle smiled with a nod. Even though Donnie knew he didn't need permission to look at the books, he couldn't help but feel better as a smile went across his face. He took the book with both hands and sat down on the edge of the elevated bed, flipping the cover open and running his hands over the pages. Trying to ignore the sound of Leonardo chuckling softly. And when he felt the mattress sink as he joined him. But he couldn't deny that having someone that alteast looked like his Aniki made him feel better. What didn't', however, was the annoying sticking words that ran across the pages. There were a few illustrations of organs that Don recognized, so it was some sort of Medical book but that was about it

"Can you read it?"

Donnie shook his head, he couldn't' stop a groan from escaping his lips. It was the one thing he found interesting in this stupid world- wait why was Leonardo laughing?!

"Do you know how to read at all?"

What kind of question was that? Then again, considering that he didn't even know if Leonardo could read, it made sense he would be wondering the same thing. Leonardo took the book out of his hands again, flipping the pages open there was a mild light of surprise in his eyes before he looked back over, "you want to read about medicine?"

Don nodded again, what was so strange about that He watched Leonardo look back to the book a frown forming across his face, as though he was thinking about something. He took that moment to really look at this version of his brother (he hadn't before because of his brother's extreme nakedness).

The belts they wore seemed to be only to use keep their weapons on them. There were padded cushions on their elbows and knees kind of like the ones that Don had made for Mikey a while back. Btu other than that and their masks they were completely nude. His question on why Leonardo wasn't cold was answered when he realized that this Leonardo was a bit more toned then his Aniki. Their shell was also much larger (he wondered how he even sat down or lay on his back) which probably helped keep them warm. But he also didn't look like he suffered from any physical ailments. He never knew his Leo to get cold either

"Are you a doctor?"

Huh? Don blinked, tearing his eyes from Leonardo's physical examination to look up to him again. Why would he ask that? There was almost a surprised look in Leonardo's eyes, but Donnie found himself nodding anyway.

"Do you build stuff too? Inventions?"

Don nodded again; he rolled over his forearm and pointed to it before lifting his arm up and pointing with it. Trying to tell him about the gauntlet (They had to of seen it when they changed his clothes). Leonardo nodded in understanding, his gaze going back to the book. The older turtle slid off the bed, putting the book in Dons lap, "I'll be right back." before leaving the room. He turned in his seat lightly in time to see the door close shut (it worked on hinges? Weird) before leaning back on the bed with his shell meeting the pillows. His hand once again running over the leather cover.

When Donnie had asked Leatherhead why he couldn't look at his bounded scrolls (he had been six at the time) his mentor had explained that those 'books' were his most precious possessions, alongside his 'chess' set. They were the only things Leatherhead had left of his country, so he didn't want anything to happen to them. Don hadn't understood at the time, but he had always been the 'Tsukino boy' that followed the rules. He had been rewarded on his birthday by being taught how to play 'chess' and allowed one game on Leatherhead's precious board. It had become a tradition amongst the mentor and his apprentice to play one chess game on his birthday. Don never did get a chance to win either.

The door swung open again, Leonardo poked his head in with another smile that Don returned the best he could. He saw a tray in Leonardo's hands that held a bowl of rice and a small yunomi like bowl with a handle, but he could smell something sweet coming from it. A bundle of clothes under his arm along with another binded scroll. The tray was placed on the small table by the elevated bed, "I thought you might be hungry. It's just white rice and orange juice, and a change of clothes."

White rice, Don knew what that was, but orange juice? He nodded his thanks anyway; he actually did appreciate the change of clothes though. He hoped there was a fundoshi in there-

Leonardo sat back on the edge of the bed, taking out the bounded book again. This one looked newer; the cover was once again covered in that 'side to side stick' language. He glanced up to Leonardo who gave him another smile before flipping the book open, "My father, Master Splinter had a teacher who came from Japan, he had this book to help him speak and learn English. I know you can understand English, but I think this will help you read it."

English? IS that what they called common speak? It almost sounded too fancy of a- wait what? The book was opened in his lap, the familiar language of his home reflecting back to him in a swarm of nostalgia.

Home

Donnie bit his lip and closed the book. Slowly he reached his hand out to grip the top of Leonardo's knee lightly though his eyes returned to the ground.

"Can you talk?"

It would have been so easy to lie right then and there. Maybe it would have been easier to 'say' he was a mute. But He found himself nodding anyway, the shaking consuming him once again. Don put his hands together, fighting himself. Fighting to keep a firm stature-

An arm draped over his shoulder, not pulling him closer, but as though to remind him of Leonardo's presence "it's alight if you don't want to talk. No one's forcing you,"

A soft sign escaped Don's lips; he couldn't help but feel relieved. He found himself leaning more into Leonardo's embrace. Not fully but just so he could somehow return the embrace. Don Leonardo's fingers tighten ever so lightly.

The walls almost seemed a little less cold.

(#)(#)(#)(#)

_Walls_

_Stone cut walls surrounded him, rising up around him beyond his vision. Don's hands felt the cold material, over the mortar that kept them together, "HELLO!?" he shouted again his hands slapping the stone, he moved back alongside the wall, slapping the stone again. He toes brushing against the stone, hoping to find some sort of foothold, "PLEASE? Is anyone there? I can't get out!" his voice echoed back to him, like a cruel child._

_How long was he there?_

_How long did he shout?_

_How long did he beg?_

_His fist pounding on the stone_

_When did he begin screaming?_

_When did he begin to choke?_

_When did he begin to die?_

_(#)(#)(#)(#)_

The sound of leather binding slammed against the ground a blur of paper and movement as his body followed. His vision blurring over in undistinguishable colors, his chest squeezed as though the giant had returned and was squeezing his lungs with his bare hands. The bare mist of the breathing box knocking helplessly against his lips-

"_What's wrong with him?! Is it one of those breathing things?_

Mikey?

"_It's a panic attack."_

Kuma-ni?

No,

His big bro was miles away.

Not even that-

Arms went under him, holding him close.

"_Where are you taking him?"_

"_Out of here, what do you expect?! He's been locked up in that room week. He hasn't eaten or anything. He can't breathe down here He needs this-"_

Needs? Needs what? He felt the hood of his shirt being yanked up over his head. Truth be told he did prefer the pants and the hooded shirt over the black one-

There was a metal clicking Donnie felt his body meet some sort of long cushion, he realized that the 'cold breath' still hadn't left his lips. But the consciousness began to fall away again. NO matter how hard he clung to it-

Where was he going?

(#)(#)(#)(#)

It was the strangest sound he had ever heard, the rolling, it sounded like something was being chewed. The strap around his head still remained the soft breath against his lips that gave him breath.

But there was something else. More amazing then the realization that he was moving.

It was the breeze on his cheeks

air

Fresh air

Don's eyes began to flutter ever so lightly. Pulling away from the dark of his subconscious and the horrible cold. His eyes finally forced themselves open, he found himself staring at a strange metal door, most definitely smaller than anyone he had ever seen. But there a square opening just above it, the strange buildings that he had seen upon first arriving in this world rolling past. Don's arm twitched in an attempt to embrace the cold air with his hand but he realized his arms were trapped under a blanket (wrapped around him in a cocoon) Don looked down to the thick blanket before realizing his shell was resting in the corner that the cushion met the door, a strap crossed over his chest and across his lap in a restraining method-

"You're awake?"

A muscle spasm shot across Don's face as his beak ducked back behind the scarf around his neck, allowing himself a few panicked breaths before turning his body around.

Leonardo was sitting in the other seat, both hands holding on to a strange wheel attached to the slanted front of the 'moving wagon' his body wrapped in a brown trench coat and a strange cloth on his head that was somehow risen in the middle. But he could still see his blue mask wrapped around his eyes, glancing over at him, but trying to keep his head to the front.

Don nodded, wiggling his arm enough to free itself of the blanket and pressing it to his itchy heavy eyes, "wh-what happened?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you, you were laying on the ground coughing spasaming. I thought you were having a panic attack."

A panic attack? That made sense; it wouldn't have been the first time. Especially with the coughing, "I-I just remember feeling like the walls w=were closing in."

"You were in that room for a week Half-shell. I guess you're lucky you didn't freak out sooner."

Donnie found himself nodded again. Now that his arm was free he could see the difference between his 'cocoon' and the strange wagon

Wait

Was he in a headlight?

He didn't kwon why he was surprised. But he found himself moving around-

The headlight stopped rolling , Don found himself looking up to see the 'headlight' situated between two of the tall buildings, Leonardo jerking a strange stick that stuck out of the wheel, though he was doing it quite violently and he ordered what the headlight had done to deserve such a treatment.

Leonardo turned and pressed into his side, the strap that was over him slid off and hung off the hook in the corner. His hand reaching over to Dons side (hands covered by a black cloth) and pressing into a small strange metal clip. His restraining strap also releasing and sliding being the 'cushion'. Don squirmed around to free himself further of the blanket and sat up higher in the seat-

A bowl made of a strange see through material was placed on his lap, a strange red covering overtop to keep the 'food inside.' Leonardo's' fingers curled over the 'lids edges and lifted it off. The familiar sight of white rice piled up on the inside, Don was almost ashamed with how confused he was at the sight of food. HE took the bowl and lifted it back up before putting it on the cushion-

"No." Leonardo's voice, which had been soft and caring for the past week, suddenly held an edge that reminded him of his brothers when they weren't happy with him. The bowl was placed back on his lap, only this time Leonardo reached into his pocket and drew out a pair of chopsticks to drop right next to it, "I brought you food every day this week and you haven't eaten any of it. You're not leaving this car until you eat it."

Car? It wasn't called a headlight? Wait, did that matter? Even though Leonardo was looking at him quite sternly, there was still a pleading look to his eyes.

Maybe it was because he was the mirrored version of his own Aniki, but Donnie found himself pleading with himself to eat the food. Even though he didn't' get hungry very easily, he still knew his body needed the food. But there was also that innate desire to make his brother happy. He reached up to touch his oxygen mask questioningly to Leonard who smiled lightly before reaching forward, pulling the mask off sliding it off his head, "it's alright, it'll help you get used to our air anyway

The fresh mist that had been his source of air for a week (a week?! seriously!?) was replaced by damp cool air that alteast felt real. He felt his lungs ache only lightly but otherwise didn't react as badly. Don's eyes followed down the oxygen mask to a small strange box onto the floor, was it some sort of portable breathing box-

Ugh distractions

This was how he spent a week doing nothing but researching this world's medical methods without realizing he was starving himself.

Don picked up the chopsticks settling them into position he glanced up to see Leonardo holding his own bowl and eating at his own rice. Don almost had the feeling Leonardo was trying to help him feel less awkward, it did help that he wasn't' eating by himself, he picked up a clump of rice in his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth. It wasn't' the exact same as his home food, but his stomach still craved more of it and he did need the food-

While eating away at the large pile of rice, he could just see Leonardo set aside his now empty bowl, and watch him for a moment. The look of concern returning as though he was struggling with his thoughts. Slowly his hands reaching out. Don was a bit unnerved that he was reaching for his face. But seeing as he had spent all week flinching at the touch of the kame who wanted to help him, he decided to fight his natural reactions and instead retreated to his thoughts.

He felt Leonardo's fingers brush against his mask for a moment before curling under the material and pulling it away lightly to loosen the knot and sending the material falling from his face. A small sigh going from the other kame in a clear sign of disappointment, "I should of known, and you haven't been sleeping either,"

What was his first guess? Was to the blood shot eyes or the bags that hung from them? Of course it wasn't' like he hadn't tried. He really had, but every time he tried something would come back to him. The same thought that had been haunting him since his arrival in this world.

And that was how alone he was.

"It-it's not your fault." the least he could do for Leonardo was to relieve his worries, "you've been nothing but kind to me. Maybe even kinder then you should have been, but I've never been one to eat that much. We've always had food; my stomach never could handle that much food. My stomach might need the food but it doesn't tell my brain."

"Maybe your brains being too loud to hear your stomach."

Donnie couldn't stop himself from smiling that sounded like something his Leo would say. His chopsticks scraped against the bottom of his bowl. He blinked before realizing he had already downed fall the rice Leo had gotten him. A gurgling sound coming from his stomach and demanded its needs. A harsh blush shot across Dons face as Leonardo laughed loudly, Don wanted to grumble his response but his lips refused to move in their embarrassment

"Do you want more food?"

Do you want to shut up? Don grumbled to himself, crossing his arms in a feeble attempt to retain his pride (even though Leonardo had not stopped laughing once).

"I'll just assume that's a yes. Put your seatbelt on."

Seatbelt? What was that? Upon watching Leonardo pull on that weird strap, the realization came to him as he turned and took his own 'seatbelt to pull on. So the 'headlight' was a car and the ''strap' was a seatbelt? Stranger and stranger. Don pulled the blanket around him again before e a cough escaped his lips as he rubbed his mouth. Even with the car in motion, Leonardo reached down to pick up the 'oxygen mask' and put in his hands. Donnie nodded his thanks before pulling it back on to welcome the familiar cold mist. Speaking of annoying things, he took the straps of his mask to tighten the knot again

"Do you like potatoes?"

That was a weird question; he nodded lightly and realigned his vision as he nodded. Who didn't like potatoes? Especially when you cooked it just right

"Ok good. Cause there's only one place that's open right now, and they specialize in potatoes. The other food there might make you sick."

Wait, how late was it? Don leaned closer to the 'window' despite the 'light stands' that ran up and down the street the sky was as pitch black as the night he had arrived. Did this world even have a sun? He knew it didn't have any stars

"Don't lean out the window, someone might see you."

Don leaned back in his seta, pulling up the hood of the shirt they had given him. Truth be told, the clothes they had given him weren't all bad. He liked the purple short sleeved shirt with the hood and the long white sleeved shirt under it. It was alteast somewhat close to the clothes he wore before. But the pants were strange and stiff; they were made of a weird blue material he didn't recognize with a weird closing mechanism that had pinched his fingers.

Wait

What the sweet sprits was THAT?

The glow seemed cover the entire street a bright yellow that rivaled the sun he so missed. But the source of the light seemed to radiate from an elevated 'light' (an M? he was sure it was an M) on a rather tall pole. He couldn't really see the name, (he just knew it was under it) but it seemed to be referencing to the large one story building with a bright red roof. Walls lined with windows with lights pouring out. Leonardo seemed to be 'carring' towards it-

Hey!

He wasn't sure when Leonardo had snuck his hand behind his head but now his vision was now obscured by his hood with a hush in his ear, "Keep your face covered."  
Donnie couldn't help but think a warning would have been more effective then pulling his hood up. Don glared at him just between the fabric of his hood and Leo's scarf before ducking his head down deeper into his 'fabric shell and hiding his hands under his blanket. But he knew he still looked strange with his breathing mask and tube sticking out of a mass of cloth-

"-Yeah I'll take 5 large fries and one double cheeseburger with double pickles and two waters."

"Fries? A double burger of cheese? The only thing Donnie understood from that sentence was 'pickles' and water-

A large bag made of paper was dropped on the cushion in between them emitting many strange smells as the car rode away. With his free hand, Leonardo reached over open the bag, feeling around the inside before drawing out an open container with many strange sticks sticking out of it, 'here."

"What is it?

"French Fries, they're made of potatoes."

"These are potatoes?!" what did they do to them!?

"Yeah, they're not exactly good for you but it's the least likely to make you sick."

The food of the "m" restaurant would make you sick? Then why would they eating it? If it wasn't' for the monster demanding food in his stomach he might politely turn down the strange food, Don's hands pulled the mask back off his face before he took the warm container and picking up one to 'hot fries'. He glanced over to Leonardo for a moment before popping it into his mouth. Though the heat didn't sear his tongue but the overwhelming taste of salt and (something thick) filled his mouth. He twisted his face up lightly before forcing himself past his first impression. It was edible; he popped in another fry, not so bad. As he was eating he realized the car had stopped again. Leonardo had also pulled something out of the bag too, only this one was wrapped in thin paper. The food itself smelled worse than the fries and was a mass of indistinguishable items mushed between two pieces of bread, he was grateful to be eating the hot fries rather than a mass of gunk, "what is that?"

"It's a double cheeseburger." his mouth full of food, "I don't' eat these very often but I was getting a craving." Leonardo gave him a smile, "I see the fries aren't too disgusting to you."

"They're' strange, but there' not bad." Donnie risked sticking a few more fries in his mouth "What's' yours made of?"

"Cheese, pickles, mustard, ketchup hamburger."

"Hamburger?"

"Cow meat."

The mass of fries Don had started to swallow sent him hacking uncontrollably, doubling over with his fist to his lips. A hand started to slap him on the back with the other yanking him over to Leonardo's familiar side, "COW meat!? Ushi!? Are you a cannibal!?"

"What?! No-"

"Why would they sell ushi meat in a restaurant?! Do they do this everywhere?! Why is this a thing!?"

"Donnie!"

"I've delivered Ushi babies, Spirits! Do you eat baby cows too!? Do you PREFER to eat babes-"he could already feel the same panic that had consumed him before he had passed out last time.

Hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders, but Don's body jerked away, its own desperate attempt to break free of this horrid world. Where they ate babies, where the stars couldn't shine and where he couldn't even breathe. He wanted to go HOME he wanted his Aniki, he wanted Usagi and Raph and Mikey, and his mother. He HATED this world- before he could stop himself; he had begun to sob softly. The fingers returned to his shoulders before pulling him into a tight hug ,a hand rested on the back of his neck, "Calm down already Halfshell, no one's a cannibal here." fingers began to massage his neck lightly, coaxing his tense muscles into submission, Don reached his hand up to grip Leonardo's forearm tightly, forcing his mind through the steps of logic he was so used to. Not able to stop himself from leaning more and more into Leonardo's embrace.

Being hugged by a cannibal who practiced nudity and drove a strange 'car' around and fed him cooked potatoes

He had had a lot of fever dreams in his life, but this topped the strangest one.

"You ok Halfshell?"

Don forced himself to nod, pulling the oxygen mask away and wiping at his face. Even though the air that came from the mask felt cleaner, the air of this world (though thicker) alteast felt natural.

"I'm glad, "he laughed softly. Why was Leonardo laughing at him?! That wasn't kind at all, that freaking jerk- but the embrace kept him close. It wasn't as warm as the blankets, but the actually feeling of having someone hold him was more comforting, "Sorry, I'm not trying ot be rude. I'm just relieved I guess."

Relieved? Well that wasn't so bad, Don guessed he could forgive him for laughing

"I can assume that in your world animals are the 'norm' and are like us. But here, humans rule the world and animals are sources of food and burden."

Humans? The pig skinned creatures he had seen? They were the norm? That was an ugly thought, "Then what are you?"

"Me and my brothers were animals too at one point, us and our father. We were 'mutated when we were babies. He trained us as ninjas. But we have to live in secret, and while you're here, you have to also." the hand stopped rubbing his neck long enough to rest on his scalp, "I was only able to take you to the surface cause of your panic attack. But I can't take you to the surface all the time, not even during the day. I'm sorry but it's the truth. But we are not cannibals; we are not going to hurt you. You'll always be safe as long as you stick with us."

Don sucked in a few more breaths. He could vaguely remember having this same conversation with Leonardo the same night they had arrived, when he had used his body heat to keep him warm. He didn't remember a lot from that night but he remembered one thought. When he had closed his eyes, when he had been absorbing Leonardo's warmth and words

"I'll be safe with him."

He didn't want to pull out of Leonardo's' embrace, but he did ever so slightly to look up at him. "I-I can't sleep at night. I-I used to sleep in a room with my brothers. It-it sounds stupid, bu-but I-I'm not u-used to sl=slee=sleeping without them. I-I know i-its chil-childish-"  
"there's nothing wrong with that." The hand rubbed his scalp ever so lightly, "I know I'm not your Leo. But I do have a spare futon in my room. It's not much, but alteast you wouldn't be by yourself."

That didn't sound so bad. Don wiped his eyes on his sleeve before nodding lightly, raising his head again, "I-I don't have to eat cows do I?"

Leo's face twisting up lightly, before a smile grew across his face, as though what Donnie had said truly 'tickled' him. He laughed lightly before his hand rubbed Dons scalp harder, "No you don't have to eat anything you don't want to eat, but you have to eat. Deal?"

He was ok with that. So long as he didn't have to eat babies. But his stomach reminded him of the 'fries' he ha been neglecting. As much as he hated to admit it, he found himself craving more of the fries, but he didn't want to be rude, "Can I have so-some more fries? Shite kudasai?"

"Course you can, either you eat them or our Mikey will. And he really doesn't need it."

Don couldn't help but smile, taking up the carton of fries he had forgotten. He felt a calloused palm press itself to his forehead as he took some of the fries between his fingers. He was used to constant forehead checks over his whole life, so he almost didn't notice it, "You're still warm."

"It's normal; I get sick really easily at home."

"Alteast I know I'm not being paranoid." a gentle hand pressed to his shoulder, pushing him right back into his corner, his fingers catching on the blanket as he re tucked it under Dons chin, "I'll get us home, just stay under the blanket and cover up." The hand reached back over to grip Don's hand from over the blanket, casting him another warm smile

"Thank you for finally talking to me, Halfshell."

He did as he was told, snuggling under the blanket and taking pleasure in the tasty fries until a thought hit him. It was enough to raise his head to ask his cheeseburger eating friend

"Did you say you were a ninja?"

**A/n**

So sorry this took so long ot get up! I tried really hard, but life got in the way and I have another story I'm working on. I'll still get this one finished though! I swear it!

Damu yarō: Dam Bastard!

_Shi no shibō:_ death for death

Ushi: Cow

Shite kudasai? Please


	7. Enduring Passion

**A/n if you don't like notes then go ahead and skip to the bottom! There is a chapter here but someone asked a good question that I thought deserved an a/n**

**Anonymous asked (seriously, are all these guests the same person?) anyway, she asked "**_**I do have one question about this one. How does li'l Donnie know what potatoes are? Potatoes originated in the Americas, and didn't get exported to Europe until the early 1800's. If his Japan is still in the Edo period (that's what I'm assuming, anyway), then how did potatoes get there?"**_

**I was actually impressed with this question, so I decided to do a small an when I point out differences between my AU and Usagi's' world (and our world for that matter)**

**First THE POTATO!**

**This helps to go to history, Unbreakable and Unyielding both take place during a point in Edo Japan known as "Sakoku" the point in Japanese History also known as Isolationism. It's when Japan got sick of the Christians and European degradation of their people and closed off its port to all Europeans. This Isolation lasted for about 200 years. IN my version of Isolationism, the Western also allowed traders and travelers into Edo, and gave many gifts. But when "Sakoku" took effect, some European families stayed behind in (finding more home in Edo then in their homeland) one of these families was Leatherheads family. Because his family was so rich, he had many European luxuries like bounded books and his chess set. And his 'pygmy coffee tree' (my invention, cause I can't imagine Donnie being in a world without coffee XD) that he would eventually give to Donnie. And I imagine he grew potatoes from some seeds he brought from Europe**

**And also, you know sweet potatoes. (My simplest excuse)**

**2****nd**** Difference, the village was named Mutsu in the Usagi Yojimbo comics (but I literally couldn't find the name of the village till two seconds ago, so I changed it to Murakami) THEN I realized that Gennosuke's last name was Murakami (after face bashing myself against a wall for hours) I made up a story about how Gens' family helped founded the village (I wasn't going to be able to sleep at night until I had an excuse)**

**3****rd**** Difference, Usagi's' father. I could only find a tiny bit of information on his dead toher then a) he was dead) and b he never smiled (and he was really stocky). I didn't like him at all to be honest and I didn't think Leo would of turned out so well with such a miserable looking dad. So upon doing researched and Miyamoto Musashi (who they based Usagi on) I discovered he was raised by his uncle, Dorinbo. SO I tossed "Magistrate Miyamto" out the window and brought in the "uncle" to take the place of the biological father. I honestly thought I would regret it, but I actually really REALLY loved Dorinbo (I was even surprised when he and Kaede got married, I didn't see that coming)**

**4****th ****difference NO HUMANS. Yeah, we see no human's in Usagi's' world in the episode they go to Usagi's' world in TMNT 2003 (THE BEST SERIES BY FAR just saying, thought 2012 is pretty good). But there is a human in Usagi's world (not sure if they're others. But seeing as he's a richy richy villain, I can assume not). So in this world absolutely no humans live (hence, 'pig skinned creatures)**

**5****th**** difference Akai, remember? They haven't been in Unyielding (yet?) these creatures the Akai disease is a form of 'rabies' I invented that ravages a person's body and makes them into an animal. **

**6****th**** difference Usagi's' age, I was never sure how old Usagi was in the TMNT series, but I was looking at a picture online and it made me realize I didn't know how old Usagi was. (Old enough to already have witnessed his lord's death) SO in my series, Usagi and Leo are the same age, and Usagi and Leo were both trained by his father rather than Kenichi. And he and Gennosuke's aren't friends (Yet?)**

**7****th**** difference Murakami village, normally samurai serve under lords and masters. But , though most of them are just warriors and samurai, it goes under a code of the village where 'we serve each other' where samurai will even do 'lower' jobs around the village so long as it helps the hole. This is the reason why they have more surplus and more 'prosperous' then other small villages (also why they get attacked by bandits so often, they be jelly) so when a samurai from Murakami is asked "who do you serve?" they answer 'we serve Murakami village"**

**I think I really like answering questions, so I wouldn't mind answering more up here if you guys ask them.**

Chapter 7

**Suffering soul**

Leo cupped his hands into the icy river water. Most people might have reacted badly to such a cold substance against their hot boiling skin. But right now Leo didn't care and it took a considerable amount of self-restraint to not dip his arms into the water entirely. But due to the fact there had not been a sunny day in the three days he had left home and he did not want to risk falling ill.

He could not return home without his brother.

He tilted his head back allowing the savory drink to run down his throat, barely acknowledging the extra run off of water that ran down the sides of his mouth. The bliss of old water against hot skin, through his remaining hearing he could just hear his horse Kaze grinding grass between his teeth.

Whenever Leo even considered pitying himself for his lack of sleep and heavy body, his thoughts returned to his steed of burden. Who had been carrying his weight through his journey, That's why, when Leo decided on a break, he pushed off his bodies desires long enough to rub and wash down Kaze and relieve him of his burden.

It had been three days since Leo had set off. He had tried to keep his mind as focused as possible on reaching his goal. But he couldn't help but compare this journey to the one he took so long ago. When he had been naïve, when he thought all the pain of the journey would end when he found his lost brothers.

He would neverforget or regret that moment when he had found Donnie. When he had held him in his arms for the first time in so many years.

But it didnj't end his troubles.

And he wasn't a 'child' anymore. Not like he had been.

He took several minutes allowing the cold water down his throat, after several moments of contemplation he took his arms out of his dark blue sleeves to wash off his chest, neck and arms of the sweat that almost entirely encompassed his smell. He pulled out a piece of torn cloth to dip in the water before pressing it against his face. A deep breath shuddering through him

He was tired

So tired

(#)(#)(#)(#)

_Leo leaned his forehead against his forearms body gasping uncontrollably, his steely persona shaken and his stomach wrenching uncontrollably. The shadow of his home obscured his shame and wracking body. Away from eyes of those who might be concerned about him, it was better to hide in the shadows and emulate the ninja he hated so much then to reveal himself to others.  
He could still see that Inui_

_Standing over Usagi, his brothers blood covering his knife. _

_The rage that had consumed him, raising his blade.  
it had been so short._

_It had taken longer to watch the life drain out of his enemies._

_Upon realizing his brothers safety the fact he was alive had almost fcrippled him in relief. But he was forced to throw Usagi onto a horse and ride back to the village.  
That's when the horror sank in. _

_The horror of what he had done_

_Hiding his shame_

_Choking on the smell of blood-_

"_Gakusie?"  
His tight body flinched, all but jerking in the opposite direction of the voice. His heart hammering in his chest and red to his face, Oh Spirits, he didn't want anyone to see him. His humiliation was crippling enough-_

_A hand gripped his shoulder, all but jerking him away from the wall. Before he could react or run arms wrapped around him, despite the obvious height difference, he felt a hand reach up to rest against the back of his neck_

_He knew these arms. _

_There was only one person who called him Gakusie-_

_Kaede_

_A tremble went through him, though he couldn't tell if it came from shame or from his body's weakness. But Kaede's' soft hand had barely fell on his neck before Leo's head dropped, face pressing into her shoulder as deeper trembles shot through him. Eyes burning as he struggled against his very breath, "Mother I'm sorry-"_

"_Sssh, it's alright son" her voice was soft "You saved your brothers life.", finger tips just barely running over his neck in the same hypnotic manner he had seen her use on Raphael in his temper spells, and Mikey hurrying his hyperactive ones. He was pretty sure he had seen Kaede instructing Usagi on her methods on a sleeping Donnie (which had almost disturbed him at the time till he realized they were helping him out of a nightmare). He fought the degrading pride that normally powered every step of his life and allowed him to sob weakly in her arms, giving him a rare moment of vulnerability. In his role as older brother, role model, samurai_

_He allowed himself this vulnerability._

_He wasn't even sure how long he stood there sobbing into his mother shoulder .But it was long enough for his knees to ache. But he couldn't stop himself from hugging the woman who named herself his mother back._

"_I know its hard Leonardo, it's alright you're' feeling like this."_

"_But I can't, everyone's depending on me-"_

_"You're not the only one though, there are other samurai in this village who carry your same burden. They fear their failure or wavering of courage will lead to anguish for their families and their fellow ronin. Your job doesn't make it any easier."_

"_I-I know had to do it, he was going to kill Usagi. "_

"_No one blames you. You acted nobly and saved your brothers life. And no one would blame you for what you for how you feel .Taking life is never easy, and it never GETS easier."_

"_Then what do I do mother?" how was he going to deal with the crushing weight of having so much blood on his hands? The hand on his neck slipped up to cup his face, lifting his head away from her shoulder, his eyes meeting her black soft eyes. Always an instant from blazing one moment and to the eyes of a mother in any moment_

"_Endure. And remember who you want to protect."_

_Leo closed his eyes allowing his heavy head to drop in a nod. The hand slid back to the back of his scalp to tip his head down ever so slightly to press a kiss to his scalp. Leo only had a few blurry memories of his birth mother and since he and Mikey had come to this village, on the brink of death. He had been raised by Dorinbo by himself. Mikey used to joke that Leo was the only mother he ever had but Kaede's presence in their life._

_Honesty_

_Leo thought their birth mother would allow a new mother into their lives. _

_He was drawn into another hug before Kaede pulled away, her fingers tracing down the side of his face, "Go on inside, dinner will be ready soon."_

_Leo nodded again before drawing away. He put a smile to his face but it barely reached his eyes (he knew that it didn't reach his their eyes._

_He pulled away from Kaede's embrace. He was grateful for the low sun so no one could see him. The village was that , by this point, that everyone one would know of his 'heroics' s at this point and would shower him in praise. He could just hear their whispers in his ear. Congratulating him, praising him. _

_He honestly didn't think his stomach could handle that right now._

_But the comfort of his home allowed him to let out a long overdue breath and it helped to walk into an empty room. Usagi was probably getting help from the village I-sha (Don had to take a break from I-sha'ing due to his latest ill spell) and Mikey was over at Master Splinter's house to spend time with their Grandfather. _

_Leo lowered himself onto the ground the soft tatami floors was heaven against his heavy body. A breath blowing between his lips as he closed his eyes_

_He did what he had to do._

_He did what he had to do_

_He did what he had to do-_

"_You're really leaving Kuma-ni-"_

_Leo's eyes opened, Donnie? That was Donnie's voice. Well dam, of course. He had just told himself that Donnie was sick so of COURSE he'd be here. And if Donnie was here then that meant the only other person was-_

"_It'll Just for a little bit, there's a bounty heading our way that s' pretty good. It'd be a hell of a pay day."_

"_How long would you be gone?" _ _Leo's heart ached at such a soft voice. Unsure of anything else, but he knew the voice belong to his second youngest though smallest brother. If he looked into their shared rom, he would see Don piled under mounds of blanket, Raphael at his side. Course, whenever Don fell ill, you could always depend on that. Especially with Raph's' protectiveness. _

"_A bit, maybe a week." by this point Raph would have probably rested his hand on his brother's scalp, _

"_You haven't been after a bounty in a while."_

"_You calling me out of shape?" despite his words, Leo could hear a murmur of humor in his voice. But the truth was Raph had gone from 'bounty hunting every day' (as he did in Horyu City) to virtually unemployed (though he did do repair jobs and grunt work around the village (molding his lifestyle to the 'collective living' they used in Murakami village). Despite training every day and still working out, Leo had begun to fear himself that his hotheaded brother had begun to lose his advantage. _

"_Maybe Mama should go with you."_

_There was a small pause. Leo wondered if the same thoughts were going through Raph's' head._

"_I don't think that's a good idea little man." Raph's normally gravelly voice (capable of shaking houses in a shout) was doused in concern. See? Leo knew they were thinking the same thing despite their polar opposite thoughts._

"_I think it'll be ok. I won't be alone remembering? I have Leo, Usagi, Dorinbo, Maybe even Ojison. And Mikey if he annoys Leo enough."  
"and Master Splinter."_

_A pause filled the house. Leo couldn't help but let out a sad sigh. He had thought when Splinter finally woke up and when their Ojison Lorenzo came to live with them maybe Donnie wouldn't be so nervous around their father. But it still seemed like Don would cling to his brothers whenever Don was stuck in a room with Splinter. He could still remember when he had begun to realize this 'shyness' when Donnie had fallen ill (honestly, it would be easier to mention the times when he wasn't' sick). He remembered sitting with Donnie and talking to him when Splinter had entered the room with a tray of food. Leo had almost instantly felt relieved at his brother's presence but he remembered feeling arms wrap around his. If only to escape for a second from his father's sight._

_Honestly? _

_Leo didn't know of a worse irony _

"_You have to talk to him eventually baby bro." When did Raph start talking again? "He aint all bad."_

"_I'm trying Raphie I really am." Don's voice strained lightly," I'm trying really had. But I can't stand to be around him."_

"_I know I know." a tired sigh reached Leos' ears. It was nice to know Leo wasn't the only one concerned about Don's fear of their father, "You really want Ma to come with me?"_

"_I'd feel better if you did. Like I said, Leo won't let anything happen to me while you're gone." the next sentence made Leo close his eyes, if only to keep the tears from finding their way down his face _

"_He would never let anything happen to me."_

_(_#)(#)(#)(#)

Leo drew in a shuddering breath, stuffing the wet rag back into his bed roll; he slipped his arms back into his kimono tap to dap at his face before snatching up the saddle. Because of his years being a stable boy, it didn't take long to clip the saddle into place. Reins in his hands he pulled Kaze after him. He had already memorized the map to the Sohei Temple. His only chance of getting his brother back.

It would help if he wasn't being followed.

Despite his hearing handicap, he had realized his followers a while ago. Not so much in the physical sense in his bones. He had his doubts a first and shrugged it off to paranoia. But the feeling hadn't left him; it loomed over him like a dark cloud of dread.'

Someone was following him.

He knew it wasn't' Mikey, (the combination of Usagi and Splinter would never of allowed him to leave or follow Leo) and Raph had barley been able to walk (though he wouldn't put it past Raph to grunt past his own pain)

NO.

Whoever was following, he wasn't going to play it down to a family member. He reached to his hip to run his fingers over his worn sworn hilt.

No one was going to get in between him and his little brother.

No matter what he had to do

translation/

gakusei: student

Donnie: oK I stole the laptop for a moment, listen to me reader of fanfiction! I am not that small!DX I'm NOT adorable, I'm not a bag of cuteness either! I know I am not exactly tall, or muscular, and I fall alsseep at a drop of a hat, but I'm not little! I'm not! Oh crap, Charmy's ba-


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